Thesis Results Are In

... and I am required to resubmit the thesis in revised form for examination after a suitable period of study and/or research.

I can't say that I'm particularly surprised, but it is also a pain. Technically, all the original work was fine. However, there are insufficient comparisons to existing algorithms. Specifically, the reviewers want to see CPU time results, and want comparisons to backtracking algorithms that use variable reordering. My thesis only includes algorithms and comparisons that were state-of-the-art when I wrote it...

On the plus side, I'm not getting the worst possible assessment. Here is the list of possible assessments I could have received (I got the 3rd assessment from one reviewer, and the 5th one from the other):

1. Acceptable, no changes.
2. Minor revisions, checked by head of postgrad studies.
3. Major revisions, checked by head of postgrad studies.
4. Major revisions, checked by examiners.
5. Major revisions, re-review by examiners.
6. Oral examination to check you know your stuff.
7. Accepted, for Masters.
8. Revise and resubmit, for Masters.
9. Fail.

Now I just need to decide on a time for me to restart thesis work. As I have to reimplement a bunch of algorithms, I think I might port all development over to Java and run them on Emily's beast of a computer. :)

Update: Trying to list out the positives... They didn't criticise the rather "unique" approach of my literature review. (I'd been having nightmares that they'd toss the thesis out for that chapter.) They appreciated the original research component. They liked the intuitive explanations. The hypertree decomposition work wasn't integrated into the thesis, but only small changes are required. All I need to do is write up a few more algorithms and run a new round of experiments. My algorithm doesn't even have to be better than the other algorithms. I just have to compare it. All in all, things could have been a lot worse.

Mission

It's been a while since I've blogged. I keep waiting for something important to break this silence. I've now found it.

I was raised to believe that we should give what we can, what is in our capacity. The people I most want to imitate are those who give out more than they keep for themselves. There are people like this throughout my family (immediate and extended), Emily's family, and some I know abroad. Jane and Daniel Toole have been especial inspirations for me. They've been living in Ethiopia for a while now, with their own children, doing what they can to help the kids there. I barely dare to read their emails as I must contrast my life with theirs.

There are common religious teachings like "I have been filled up so that I can be emptied again". Or this all-time favourite of mine from Anthony de Mello:

A man walking through the forest saw a fox that had lost its legs and wondered how it lived. Then he saw a tiger come with game in its mouth. The tiger had his fill and left the rest for the fox.

The next day too God sent, the tiger to feed the fox. The man began to wonder at God’s greatness and thought. “I too shall lie in a corner trusting the Lord to give me all I need.

He did this for a month, and was almost at death’s door when he heard a Voice that said, “O you who are on the path of error, open your eyes to the Truth! Imitate the tiger not the fox.”

To be clear, I don't believe in "responsibilities" or "directions" passed to us by God. Not at all. But I still believe that I should give what is in my capacity. Have I done this? Hell no. I do give... but there is still a large gap between "what I give" and "what I can easily give". I am not the fox, but I feel I am just a shadow of the tiger.

I have wrestled with the question: should I go abroad myself, or should I try to fund others? I try to have money spare for good causes. If I go abroad myself, to volunteer in places which need help, I would not have that money spare. And what am I able to do anyway? I have occasional wrist and back pain. I burn easily. I've used computers all my life. What use could I be?

We will find out. Before I reach 31 years old, Emily and I are planning to go on a few missions trips. Preferably something not associated with the church. We will try something short first - a 2-4 week post offering assistance wherever. After that, we will try something longer - a 3-6 month post trying to do something more.

Whatever we do, it must be completed before we start having children of our own. I know Jane and Daniel had the strength to raise their children abroad, but I know I do not have that strength. And I expect we will start managing Timothy's care in a few years, and our first priority is to him.

This is an important decision for me. Not something I take lightly. But something I feel I need to do.

Mario Kart Has Windmills

We're in Edmonton at the moment, making various pre-wedding preparations. It's also a chance to spend time with Timothy (he's my best man, by the way :).

We recently purchased a copy of Mario Kart for the Wii and brought it with us. He's enjoyed driving games in the past and we wanted to see if he would enjoy this one. Turns out that he can drive reasonably well until one specific point in the track. The point with a windmill...

Timothy has a fascination with things that spin, and immediately spotted this windmill off the side of the Moo Moo Meadows track. He refuses to drive past, and keeps turning his kart around to look at it. The plus side to this? It reinforces how the controls work as he cannot find the windmill without correct steering. :)

We also brought Excite Truck, another driving game. It's a lot faster than Mario Kart, and Timothy has a lot more accidents (eg. crashing into trees, falling off cliffs, etc). He's been laughing as he plays this one simply because of the animations as his truck crashes into things, flies through the air, or sinks beneath the water. We'll try with both of these games tomorrow. :)

Winter Is Over

Vancouver's winter is finally over, and I finally feel like blogging again.

First off, Emily has been doing some awesome work on the wedding front. Most of the Canadian invites have been made, and we now need to start on the Australia invites. We've also started a new blog to document the wedding details. The address is emphinity.blogspot.com, and it should have a bit more content by the time the invites arrive in mailboxes. We may end up reusing that blog for "family" stuff too, especially once we have kids and such. No, there's no children on the way yet, but there certainly will be eventually. :)

Emily's Grandma (Mak side of the family) has been visiting Vancouver for almost 3 weeks now. She's here to see the cherry blossoms and enjoy our weather. As I type this blog, she's frying up dinner in the kitchen - probably onions because my eyes are watering.

The three of us have been living at my apartment and it's been surprisingly good fun. Emily and I have learned how to play Mah Jongg (just the basics, not the complicated scoring mechanism), and we play it every few nights.

We've also rearranged my apartment in preparation for when Emily eventually moves in. The living area is now almost entirely open space, with just some vertical glass shelving on the walls, and a sofa/futon in one corner. We've hosted a couple of "small group" sessions here. That was the first really large gathering at my apartment since... well... ever. I'm not sure how to feel about that... :)

Anyway, sounds like dinner is almost ready. I need to wake Emily and see what I can help with.

Wordle Picture

This is the result of applying Wordle to my blog. I imagine that the topics will change overtime. I need to post some more stuff about snowboarding, for example. :)

Update: The results of applying to Emily's blog, and to Timothy's blog. See if you can pick which belongs to who.