Autumn/CS320/Porcupine Tree at HOB

Autumn is here!

Every now and then, I take a look at Abe's blog and see how he's doing. It's so remarkable to me how he just vanished into another foreign country and living life the best that he can. Check out his pictures on Facebook; Alexandria is so breathtaking, it's amazing. Miss you man!

But we're all just doing our own thing. I am taking this course called CMPSCI320: Introduction to Software Engineering, and it's demanding to say the least, not because of the workload, but because I'm on a team with nine or ten other guys working together to create software for a real audience.

Here's the deal: The class is broken down into three teams, Team A, B, and T. While Team A and B are both development teams, software development theory in textbooks strongly claim that more than 50% of total man hours and resources are allocated to Testing, so Team T (Testing team) is divided into two groups, one that works with Team A and the other with B.

We are under a HUGE semester-long project to design and develop Medical History Solicitation software for a Pharmacist from Franklin and Bay State Medical Centers and a Nurse from the UMass Nursing school. This is a pretty big deal! Or, at least it seems that way, doesn't it? The class is meant to teach you by doing, not just by learning software theory from assigned reading. Professor Osterweil leads by example when he tells stories about his days in consulting huge software companies and the problems that they encounter during the development process. He's an awesome professor, by the way.

Anyway, I'm the Database Team Manager for Company A, and I'm working with three guys to make sure we're on track with our portion of the project, but it's stressful because you have to communicate to be heard (Thank you Mrs. Harbridge) and work with other people to meet deadlines and expectations. It's not easy, not one bit.

Last Sunday (the 27th of September), Viada and company headed out into Boston, got lost, and soaked up the deliciousness of Porcupine Tree Live at the House of Blues!! I kick myself for not taking any pictures that night, but the band appreciated our cooperation with not taking any form of media during the concert, which I do respect. Still, the concert was just drop-dead amazing and the best I have ever seen them perform. However, the original plan had changed on us; we were determined to meet and greet them in Newbury Comics in the afternoon, but because we were late and had no sense of direction (save Myrelle's GPS on her phone!) and given that one of the band members wasn't feeling so good, we just missed them. Damn! We hung around Newbury Comics, I had my small pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks, traveled and lingered around the Hemp store for a while, and then enjoyed awesome square pizza at a local pizza pub (Can't remember the name). It was a great day because we had Mikey, Alex, Myrelle, and Alex Andreosantos with us, and we all hung around Newbury street until the final hour before the concert started.

But yes, life moves on, and we're all back at work. Dan and I are going home this upcoming weekend to take care of Missy girl while the parents leave for business trips around the world. Call us up! We'll be jamming in the basement.

Haha.