Finally

Oh man, I almost forgot I have this blog. The last entry was maybe over a year ago? I suppose it is now time to write something!

School

First of all, I have finally passed the comprehensives! That was not fun! I have also fulfilled my course requirements now, so I am just focusing on research.

About research. It’s more time consuming then classes! For me, if I have something I want to solve (like right now), my head goes on for almost 24/7 until either I solve it or lose interest. This also makes me very busy, although most of the time I just look like I’m doodling on paper.

So now, my area is number theory and cryptography. Now, just about a week ago, I just realized something. Back in high school when I was deciding on what to take in university, I was dreaming to be a cryptographer (I was much influenced by John Nash in A Beautiful Mind); it was partly why I wanted to to math. Anyway, I just stuck me that, in some sense, my dream came true!

Cars

We have also lost the Jetta and the Caravan. The Jetta was sold (on Facebook! and from Calgary!) in the summer. I was kind of sad to let it go. I still remember the day we went to pick it up. Anyway, I saw it again a few days after we sold it, and the buy fixed up the dings and the slightly damaged back. He also added tinted glass. It looked so nice and new!

At few months later, the transmission on the Caravan died, and we had to get rid of it. Since the transmission was shattered and locked up in park, and wouldn’t shift out, the tow truck had to drag it out by brute force. It was as if it didn’t want to go! It was I almost cried when the tow truck towed it away. So many memories with the Caravan. It was the car I learned to drive and park in. It was the car on many many trips, including the eastern Quebec ones.

As we were selling the Jetta, I was car shopping the the summer to replace it. I tried out many cars, and was looking to get the new Jetta TDI clean diesel. There was one day when it rained really hard. We had heard on the radio that Honda had a sale. So we went. We checked out the Civic, Accord, etc., and the new Insight hybrid. The guy at Honda said if we are getting a hybrid, get the Prius instead, and since if you look at the Accord, you must also look at the Toyota Camry, so the next stop was Toyota. So we went. The first section in Toyota was the hybrid area, and the Prius was the closest car, dad jumped it. After 30 seconds, he said "cool". We briefly looked at the Camry hybrid and the standard Camry, but I was really surprised when the salesperson came over, dad asked to test the Prius right away. And so we went and I was surprised yet again. I have heard many negative comments about the Prius from Jeremy Clarkson, but I was in love with it. I knew it was quiet, but not this quiet; it was completely silent when it’s stopped.

So we got the Prius.

It has been a few months, and I am still excited about the and absolutely loving the Prius. I have never dreamed we would actually get a hybrid.

Now, when the Caravan died, we had to go "emergency" car shopping again. Luckily though, the Prius shopping was not that long ago, so I still had all my research and things didn’t change too much. So this time, we considered more cars. Since this time we were in a "hurry", I took a much more methodical approach, eliminating cars quickly and rationally. We were deciding between Honda and Toyota. Honda (the Accord or Insight) was ruled out, and were left with the Toyota Corolla and Camry. So we tested both. They both looked nice, since the Corolla design was based on the Camry anyway. Their interior were opposites. The Corolla interior looked really nice in pictures, but I was disappointed when I saw it in person. The finishes were cheap and just very disappointing. On the other hand, the Camry was better than it looked in pictures. So after some deliberation, we went for the Camry.

So there, we got two new cars.

I think that’s a long entry now. Until next time.