I started the day with a short meeting with our department chairman. I set the appointment last week and I was rather hesitant to meet him, since the council hasn't clearly planned out a tentative schedule for the whole year. Council plans are... well... still plans and so far everything's still cloudy... not to mention the very discouraging ticket price of 325 I was ranting about days ago.

Well, life has full of surprises. The meeting turned out very positive. Not only was I able to introduce to the chairman the council's plans for this year, I was also able to get the department's support for our fundraising program. The only problem would be finding competent instructors to handle the workshops and modules. Surprisingly, he told me he'll handle that part of the problem since he knows a lot of computer professionals in the field. Hmmm... once you're a PhD, contacts are no problem I guess.

Second surprise was... the chairman asked me to help him start a Robotics Club in USC... "Robotics???", I asked with a very perplexed expression. Well, I just learned today, from him, that his doctorate dissertaion happens to specialize in the field of robotics. They're undertaking a project on finger print matching and iris scanning security devices... like Charlie's Angels. Cool! I used to watch with awe at that AMA commercial on TV where a school tour guide happens to be a robot made by the students... and the students then try to troubleshoot the robot when it malfunctioned. Soon, that commercial could just materialize right before my eyes for all I know. By 10AM, I left the office feeling lighter, with part of the burden UNloaded.

Speaking of loaded, I watched Matrix REloaded this afternoon. It was rather a long movie... took most of my afternoon. The special effects were awesome. It must have cost the producers a lot just to have those magnificent effects. I liked Neo's "trenchcoat". Looked very simple, sophisticated and very neat.

Well, today certainly was a day of surprises. Sometimes things just go your way without your anticipation.

Have to go now. The chairman asked me to compose a short article about the council. He will test launch the CompE site by Wednesday, so I have to come up with a page to feature the council... deadlines, deadlines, deadlines... life never runs out of 'em... hehe