Some Pictures from last week

Driving
Driving
Driving
Airplane
Flying
Flying

Mountains
Mountains
Mountains
Mountains
Mountains
Mountains
Mountains
Mountains
Mountains
La Brea Tar Pits
CaliMountain
CaliMountain2

Here is movie clip of us flying:
Flying Movie

Mike is leaving today

Well, didn't do much again today. I went grocery shopping, finished unpacking, and mike usselman should be taking his plane trip home today at 11pm and should arrive in albany probably around 9am. He has class on monday. He is probably going to be very tired.

I have been trying to learn the streets and the LA way of life to get use too. I'm currently looking for a job. I just looked up a few jobs and probably will be sending resume out sometime tomorrow, hopefully. I got some pictures to put up on the blog soon.

For everyone back at SUNYIT good luck on the classes, and remember most people say "the real world sucks" and that they rather go back to school.

Nothing much today

Me, Mike Usselman, and Venkatesh Tatineni went to Mahn's Chinesse Theater, watched Hero, and went to the outlet stores today. The movie has an interesting story, but the action is kinda lame with the same actions seen in croucing tiger hidden dragon. Of course the outlet mall had nothing in my size or wasn't interesting. The holleywood stuff is interesting if you want to go see a premire movie or be a guest on the Jimmy Kimbel show.

Tour LA today

Didn't do much just visited Vencie Beach and the La Brea Tar Pits today.

Trip to cali this tuesday

Well I'm almost all set to go to California, going tomorrow :)

Now just got to find a job, and pay off my bills also.

Trip back to Utica this Thursday

Me, Mike Usselman, and Mike Davis will be making a trip to Utica to run some errands that day. I got to get the liscense plates and turn them in so I can cancel my insurance and get a refund back. Mike U. will probably buy his books if the book store is opened. Probably going to eat at IHOP and on the way back eat at Papa Johns since none of us have tried the place. Everything is all set for my trip to Long Beach, CA. this Tuesday, all my packages have arrived there already.

Buy My Car..

Ok, I'm going back home to Elmira, NY until Aug. 24th the address is:

319 Baty St.
Elmira, NY 14904

I probably won't be updating this blog on a consitent basis until I get back to California, I am alos going to shut down my netcam for sometime. The picture you will be stuck with is the view outside my window viewing my car that I want to get rid of ASAP.

My dad says he might be taking a break during the first week so Mike, Venk, and I can probably be taken places all over the LA county area like Disneyland and stuff. Once I get home to Elmira, alot of stress should be off my shoulder. The only thing I still have to do is print out my thesis a couple of times, 2 for me and 1 for my advisor. Don't know when I can do this...

Hey you, want to buy a car?

See the red chevy corsica in the image. I be happy to get rid of it for a few hundred dollars. The car needs new front breaks, oil change, and for some reason likes to stall. That is why I'm selling it so cheap. If interested contact me via email or phone. andrusw@sunyit.edu (315)351-3261

Hey you, want to buy a car?

See the red chevy corsica in the image. I be happy to get rid of it for a few hundred dollars. The car needs new front breaks, oil change, and for some reason likes to stall. That is why I'm selling it so cheap. If interested contact me via email or phone. andrusw@sunyit.edu (315)351-3261

Thesis stuff again

So I finally meet my advisor again, and now we are finalizing the thesis by going over and making sure that it is a clear, coherent understanding to the reader. We spent 2 hours going over 10 pages. So I have to come in tommorow to continue with the other 49+ pages. Should be interesting...

Packages Sent

I sent out a majority of my packages today except stuff I figure I can carry on to the airplane. It cost me $290 to send out 21 packages. I'm poor..... I'm hoping to sell my car before Aug 16th, but doubtful. I have to pay for the car insurance still and don't have enough money yet. I'll need to get home some time this thursday or friday and find some luggage and hopefully get some money from my grandma from my birthday back in late April. I know I know I'm evil because I don't talk to my own family and stuff. I figure if I sell my car cheaply for about $350 I can get money back in my pocket. Why so cheaply, well it needs some repair like front breaks and it now likes to stall for some reason.

Mohawk Duty & Misc..

Well Im up in mohawk today doing checkins for conference today from 3pm to 8am the next day. A lot of people still haven't checked in and Im about to leave. Anyway I'm going to go with Nixon tomorrow to try to mail my packages and I still have to see my advisor about my Thesis stuff and hope everything is settled. I just hope the packages don't cost much so I can get the car fixed probably on Tuesday and leave to go home to Elmira before Aug. 24th some time this Wednesday Aug 11th. Then I'll go to Long Beach, CA. For some of you who want to know my new address and don't want to bother emailing me here it is:

William Andrus
3131 Cade St.
Long Beach, CA. 90805

Don't know my own dads phone number, never been good at memorizing that stuff.

I haven't been doing much the past few days. I got everything packed except for my computer stuff (tower, speakers, monitor, keyboard, wires, etc..). I got to fix my car if it is cheap, it keeps stalling everytime I make a stop. If it cheap Ill fix it right away, else Ill try to drive home and hope for the best. I have to work up in Mohawk this sunday from 3:30pm to 8am Monday doing checkins for a conference.

Thesis

Well I got my day started off by picking up my $300 suit and buying some cheap payless dress shoes for $40. I had my presentation today had some people say good luck because of the email stating the day of my defense:

William Andrus will be presenting his MS Thesis titled
“Reinforcement Learning in Games” this Wednesday August 4, 2004 at 1:30 p.m. in Room C212.

Everyone is welcome to attend.


Jorge Novillo
Professor
CS Department
SUNY Institute of Technology
Utica, NY 13504-3050
(315) 792-7352 (o) / (315) 738-1896 (h)
jorge@sunyit.edu jorge.sunyit.edu

From Kevin Mills:

Hey Will good luck with ur thesis tomorrow,

Kevin

From Mike Usselman:

I would be there if I could but can't work and all

let me know when you are coming home

later,

Mike

From Tracy Boyarsky-Smith:

Just a note of congratulations to Will Andrus who defended his thesis
successfully today!!!

All our best to you Will--you're graduating!

This is actually a serious campaign for Will, rather than "get you back" prank!

;)


Tracy Boyarsky-Smith, Hall Director
SUNYIT
P.O. Box 3050
Utica, NY 13504
(315) 792-7422

So I dressed up:




And had the following professors show up:
Jorge Novillo (MY THESIS ADVISOR)




Sam Sengupta




Rosemary Mullick




Roger Cavallo




Salahuddin Qazi:




Atlas Hsie




After a few dozen tough questions and 1 hour of presenation time. I had to leave the room so that Rosemary, Cavallo, and Jorge can discuss my presentation. After 15minutes of waiting and pacing in the hall way, they left the room and congraduated me. After that I came back to my room i had to change to get ready for the orienation that is today. All this on little sleep.

Suits & V-day critic

Ok, I went to the "Men's Wearhouse" to buy a suit, service isn't bad. They try and make you look good, but also try to make you buy a lot of useless stuff. I spent about $500 on a full suit, shirt, tie, spenders.

So I was watching C-Span today and saw Christina Hoff Sommers discuss how terrible V-day is and how men are actually unrepresented and bashed through these events and other similar areas. I'm obvious a left-wing liberal democrat, but I agree with this fully. Some of information about her and what she has been saying can be found at these sites. AEI
The Atlantic
Dartreview Newspaper
She made some very good points on how these events are male bashing, and crying for equal rights they have already received. They say that this is a male society and the names of the female anantomy have been taken over by males and that they must "retake" them back. Huh?????

I believe if we have a V-day just for the very minority of the students on this campus of females about all 10 of them. Then there should be a fair amount of time and money to be used on the opposition to V-day. This is a very controversial topic, and should only be fairly debated equally. If it is possible I would like to see Dr. Sommers come to this school and give a lecture.

This brings me to some other things: Men are usually protrude as stupid idiots in t.v. commercials who fall apart and are accident prone, while women are the smart, logical(that is obviously false) one who seem to show no irrational emotions and save the day.

Examples:

Hemi Truck Commerical: Wife talking logic of why the vechicle is bought, then husband only thinks one work "power" and then burns his oven mitt.

The typical house cleaning commericals: Husband and Wife makes a bet which product is better. Husband loses terribly with stain still there after some tire work and elbow grease, while the women hardly does anything but squirts a little of this magical liquid and ta-da its cleaned.

??? Internet Doctor or health Comerical: Women sits at computer looks outside at husband and sees that he is about to do something stupid either cut himself, get bee stings, etc.. She sits there takes five seconds to get the information (very doubtfull it take that quick) and she is the one to save the day, again and again, and again.

Tampoon Comerical: Teacher catches two girls passing a tampoon in class and this 40 year male teacher has no clue what a tampoon looks like? And ask if they have enough to share with the class.

Getting Ready?

Well I have my thesis defense, hopefully tomorrow. I have been trying to contact my advisor for the past two days and haven't found him. (Maybe he is hiding from me?) I have to see if he like the updates and stuff, and I have to still bind the thesis. I shaved today which sucks because I look like I'm barely 21 of age. I'm should be getting my hair cut today and maybe a suit sometime around 1pm. Nixon is driving me, since my car is not working and the battery charger won't be back until August 10th. I have been packing stuff, and need more boxes & tape to complete this task. I might be shipping some stuff out today. I just hoping I get this thesis stuff out of the way and graduate, else I will probably have to pay $400+ for one stupid credit of continuation on my thesis. What Bullshit!! I might be having some other problems, but I'm too busy to care right now about that. I need to kill someone punch something to get this fustration out.

A full week coming up...

I'm nervous, got to finish up my Thesis paper and present on Wednesday. I have to get a hair cut and buy a suit before then. I have to hope my car is fixable with a battery charger, if not at least fixable within 1-2 days and cheap. I have to find a way of shipping my stuff (checklist):

1. Books....
2. Computer Monitor
3. Computer Tower
4. CD, DVD, Games Discs
5. Xbox
6. Gamecube
7. Cameras & Stand (might carry it on the plane?)
8. Flashlight
9. Batteries & Charger (might carry it on the plane?)
10. Golfclubs ?? (might just buy new ones anyway)
11. Football, Rollerblades, Volleyball (might leave behind and just buy new ones)
12. Boardgames: Monolopy, Clue, Risk, Boulderdash, Malarky, Life, Jenga, Poker Chips, ...
13. Sports Net
14. Alarm Clock
15. Pens, Pencil, Papers,
16. Calculator
17. Computer Tools
18. Wireframe for Discs