Engineering Jazz Band

If you've been following this blog, you've probably noticed that we all keep up a ton of hobbies that are not engineering related at all.  For me, one of my favourite hobbies is playing jazz music.  I started playing trombone in highschool and I expected to stop when I came to university.   At the end of my 1B term, I was walking through the student life centre when I heard a band practicing.  I was curious, so I barged into the practice and was met with an entire band.  It blew me away and I ended up joining a term later. Four terms later, I'm still a part of the band and still loving it.  I have met some really good friends and have had tons of fun.  The band is completely student run.  We are funded by the student run Engineering Society, our conductor is a student, our website was made by a member of the band and everyone that plays is a student (and not just undergrad, we sometimes have grad students too!).  Tonight, we are performing at our termly End of Term Charity Show.  We're playing with another student run choir (Accent Choir) and all our proceeds are going to Habitat for Humanity.  Wish us luck! 

Here is a video of the band in action:

Thoughts of Summer

The recent warm and sunny weather has made me think of nothing but this upcoming summer term. Last summer I was in school so I am really looking forward to being on a work-term this summer and I am planning to enjoy my free-time and the sunshine to the fullest.
The past few days I’ve been daydreaming of all the things that I am going to do this summer:

-Go camping and enjoy the outdoors – I’m not much of an outdoorsy person but much to my surprise I actually love camping (as long as there are decent washrooms and showers... I know some may not consider this to be real camping but for me it is a must!) So I am definitely looking forward to a weekend of campfires in the bush.

-Make a long overdue trip to the rock store in uptown Waterloo – Uptown Waterloo has so many awesome little stores like the rock store in the Valu-mart plaza. I swore I was going to bring my friends to see the rock store over the last work term and this just never happened – probably because of the prospect of walking to uptown waterloo in freezing cold weather. (Other notably awesome places in uptown waterloo: Yukiko’s cafe, Gen X movie rental and Whole lotta gelata)

-Use the other side of my brain – Over the work term I am taking two night classes, Intro to Psychology and Macroeconomics. Even though it is more school I am definitely looking forward to classes focused on something completely different.

-Read a book – I love to read but somehow I can never fit it into school terms so this summer I am going to force myself to take some time to relax and enjoy a good book.

-Enjoy smoothies in the sun – no explaination needed on this one!

-Visit the clay and glass gallery – The clay and glass gallery is such a short walk from my place and I pass by it all the time. Ever since I moved into my place about 3 years ago I’ve been planning to visit the gallery. This summer I am definitely going!

-Relish in the ability to say “I graduate in less than a year!” – This is probably one of the most exciting prospects of this summer!

-Learn a ton at my co-op job – I’ll dedicate a whole post to this later in the term...

I’m sure this summer is going to be amazing!

Canadian Undergraduate Technology Conference

This week was the 10th annual Canadian Undergraduate Technology Conference. The CUTC is the largest undergraduate-run conference in Canada and was founded 10 years ago by UW Engineering students. Three of my classmates and myself attended the conference as delegates and it was a great experience and we took away a lot of valuable knowledge from the speakers and seminars.

This year there were three excellent keynote speakers from OpenText (a well established UW spin-off company), Rypple (a small start up company based out of Toronto) and Engineers without Borders (an international non-profit organization founded by UW Engineering students). Each speaker had a unique and valuable message and each had an insightful and inspiring message to share.

In addition to the keynote speakers, the conference also included seminars on a broad range of technology related topics including nanotechnology, technical entrepreneurship, technology sectors and air traffic control. Each of these speakers had impressive credentials and years of experience. This made them an invaluable resource for the undergraduate delegates.

The conference was held in downtown Toronto - which was a blast! During some free time my friends and I took a trip to the newly opened Art Gallery of Ontario. The architecture of the building was absolutely phenomenal and the art gallery was so much larger than I had anticipated. I'm sure we could have spent hours longer viewing all of the art. It was a great change of pace and an awesome culmination to our trip to Toronto.