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The start of a new blog. No fixed topic, no fixed format; just arbitrary inputs from my day :) ~ Jan. 14, 2026
In reverse chronological order.....
February 26, 2026
...
February 25, 2026
...
February 24, 2026
Midterm at 9am :)
February 23, 2026
S.W.I.M. lab in the afternoon.
Last night midterm, ended at 8pm :(
February 22, 2026
Staying home and preparing for the two midterms (tomorrow and the day after)... and of course taking some more pictures for the S.W.I.M. lab :)
February 21, 2026
Midterm preparation and taking some cool long-exposure pictures for the S.W.I.M. lab
February 20, 2026
Picked my uncle from the airport. First time driving to the airport myself. Didn't check the terminal and ended up circling around terminal 3 twice, then missed the correct exit three times!!! I was racing around the airport at 140 km/h because of it :( At last, picked him up with minimal wait time :)
February 19, 2026
:D
February 18, 2026
Nothing to say today :)
February 17, 2026
Got my first pet (which is not a fish) - two "Roborovski's" dwarf hamsters :)
Start of Ramadan as well :)
February 16, 2026
Bought the Oura (Gen 4) ring
Picked up a dear friend from Oshawa and went to the Toronto Autoshow 2026 together
Got home at 2am :)
February 15, 2026
Assignment work 20% due tonight and Quercus is bugging out, not letting me upload it :(
February 14, 2026
:D
February 13, 2026
Midterm day...
February 12, 2026
Midterm preparation for tomorrow...
February 11, 2026
1am - break from painting - gonna go out and pay the car wash a visit
2am - got back, let's get back to painting...
It's 5am and I'm only halfway through - plan to stay up as long as it takes, just hope I'm done before 10am (the time I had to leave for university) - wanna complete it to show the Prof. during the lecture :)
8:30am - finally complete! Gonna varnish it... Oops, I shouldn't have varnished in the dark - I think I applied extra and now my painting has a yellowish shade to it :( Managed to wipe some of the varnish off and repaint badly affected areas (mostly the skin areas - they turned deep yellow from 'skin-color' - don't want Simpsons riding the surf board :) )
9am - gotta wake up in 15 minutes - let's try sleeping.... nevermind, not possible to sleep now :(
Showed Prof. Steve Mann my painting, and he seemed to like it a lot - I guess pulling an all-nighter for the painting was really worth it :) He asked me to present the painting (and my website) to everyone... Gonna hang that painting in my family room as soon as I get home :)
Discussed projects ideas with the TA, and his opinions and tips were really helpful :)
7pm - In a global development lecture, again, very useful and insightful information is shared, but this late at night your concentration level just seems to decrease - and I've been up for 36 hours as of now :(
February 10, 2026
4pm - dentist appointment
5pm - bought a 2' by 3' canvas to make a painting for the ECE516 assignment
9pm - started to get an idea of how the final product should look like
10pm - started painting
February 9, 2026
ECE516 Lab Demo (Click here to view: Long-Exposure Images)...
February 8, 2026
Worked on my capstone project for a bit, then headed outside - I'm currently driving (basically in the carwash line) with my laptop on my lap and writing this right now :)
February 7, 2026
Spent 7 hours (until 2am) at a good friend's house (until 2am) ... and that was pretty much my day :)
February 6, 2026
Went for prayer in the afternoon, then visited the graveyard right after... watched geese there for over an hour, tried touching one but 50 others started getting close to me so I ran back to my car. Got home, loaded my car with soldering equipment and head to university to take some long-exposure pictures with my team for Monday's lab. The pictures turned out decent :)
February 5, 2026
Not a very productive day... did manage to better solder the LED at home to make it look cosmetically better, so we can use it on Friday and demonstrate it on Monday.
February 4, 2026
Another 9am to 8pm day... Soldered an LED, connected it to an ESP32-CAM board, and used it's lens to change the LED's brightness and take long exposure pictures using an external camera (i.e. a mobile phone), pretty neat :) ... Will need to take better ones in the dark on Friday though. During lecture, Prof. Steve Mann also explained a few words related to the course, and the origin of "sousveillance" [4], a word he 'invented' - I think I should try making a word of my own :)) ... This reminded me of the time when back in middle school (2014-15) I made an attempt at creating a new language in its entirety - I wrote a small book, my own dictionary, and started using some of those words in my friend circle; people around us were like, "what are you saying?" :)) This went on for about 2 weeks, then I just got tired and told my friends that I'm out - haven't opened that book since :(
February 3, 2026
Got nothing to say today :)
February 2, 2026
Got my car's oil changed for the first time :)
Heading Downtown for my 6pm lecture... Another guest speaker - had wonderful things to tell us, very interesting projects shown, however, listening to someone in a lecture setting at 8pm is not my thing :(
February 1, 2026
Another month gone by ...
Good to see some of the snow melt :)
January 31, 2026
Met a good friend after a while :)
January 30, 2026
A pothole misaligned my vehicle, taking it for an alignment.... And alignment done, and now the steering wheel is 2 degrees off :( - yes I measured it myself ...
January 29, 2026
Another slow day ...
January 28, 2026
Long university day, 9am to 8pm :(
January 27, 2026
Slow day, gonna take the day off and watch the snow melt ...
January 26, 2026
1am and me trying to clear the 4ft of snow piled in front of my garage door. Yeah, I quit, anything I clear just blows back on my face :(
It's 6:27am and UofT now decided to close the campus until 12pm, like they are gonna be able to clear everything in the next 5 hours. Luckily my professor, Steve Mann, cancelled the 12pm lab before 10am so I can stay at home. I woke up at 6am (after sleeping at 5am) for the lab in case I needed to leave several hours early with the conditions outside. I still have a lecture from 6-8pm and UofT is still not bothered. And finally.... [drum-roll] .... UofT announces at 10:07am that the campus is closed for the day. I guess it's make to online lectures for the day :)
January 25, 2026
UTM closes but UofT is still open. Heading towards their now on a Sunday for the Iron Pin Ceremony - UofT's first - in a snow storm - even the highways are not fully plowed with the 56cm snow fall. My car is laterally pushing the snow on the university roads right now, they decided to open without even clearing the snow - or they did but didn't except it to continuous pile up :(
Got the pin, heading back now. GPS said 37 minutes on the way here; took me 1:50 - I did not dare drive faster than 50 km/h on the highways (very little traffic anyways because it's a Sunday - luckily) - after my car skid across three lanes when merging from the onramp.
Made it home in one piece - I'm just gonna stay indoors, hopefully UofT closes the campus tomorrow :(
January 24, 2026
Heavy snow outside :(
January 23, 2026
MIE Dinner Dance 2T6 Party ...
January 22, 2026
Just gonna stay indoors and finish up the 5 assignments due this weekend :/
January 21, 2026
Snowy day, roads were slushy and slippery, especially on the Downtown streets - and parking lots, walkways had puddles - glad it wasn't too windy like yesterday :)
January 20, 2026
Got my car back :)
January 19, 2026
Ubered to campus this morning. Attended the 12pm MYFAB safety training session. Gotta love UofT - we needed to 3D-print a small enclosure for a camera today; MYFAB said it'll take a week; we checked Robarts Library, next thing you know they only open for 4 hours on a Wednesday. Like, such a large campus and we can't even printed something on time that weighs 41 grams :(
Was supposed to get my car delivered to me on campus this afternoon - just hate these mechanics, they can't even keep their promise - now will have to take the TTC and GO train all the way to Brampton to pick it up and then drive it back home :(
January 18, 2026
Took a short walk outside - despite the municipality deciding to finally shovel the walkways and throw some salt, thin layers of ice still made walking on the walkways a dangerous sport.
Had a good friend - who I met for the first time off of Reddit on NYE, after I made a post asking anyone who would like to join me on a roadtrip to Niagara Falls for the new year fireworks (after my so-called friends bailed out) - and his buddy come over to my place to hang out for a bit. There are those you call friends, but in reality, they don't deserve to be called that, and then there are these two, whose company makes you feel loved and every moment is to be remembered. Met one of them for the first time today, and I could tell that this was the start of a good, long friendship. Finally found people that are eager to hang out and enjoy the moment, without needing something from me or pretending to care :)
And... managed to submit my MIE408 assignment 5 minutes before the deadline :)
January 17, 2026
Tried to sleep well today, but my neighbors decided to start there snow blower at 8am - it's a weekend, where are you planning to go at 8am??. Dropped my car at the mechanic for some body work, layer got a call saying they ordered the wrong parts - will have to resort to walking until Monday now :(
January 16, 2026
Full day at two different mechanics :(
January 15, 2026
To much snow outside (40cm), I'm just gonna stay indoors and finish off my assignments :)
January 14, 2026
Drove from Mississauga to Downtown Toronto to attend the first lecture of the day. Left home at 11:15am, reached the underground parking lot of the Myhal building (UofT) at 12:08pm - I'm starting this blog in my car parked in the lot as of right now :) On the way here, had three cars try to cut in front of me, twice on the highway - first after turning the indicator on just as they turned, squeezing between my car the one in front at 106 km/h, the other one, a Fiat, without even turning on their indicator. The third, on Lake Shore Blvd., a Porsche, failing to obey the yeild sign, decided to stick their nose in the tiny gap between my vehicle and the one in front - we were all moving - I had to sway to the wrong side of the road to avoid a collision. Usually when the same thing happens with you more than once, you tend to be the cause, but I assure you this wasn't one of those cases :)
Off to a fantastic start of the day :) Grabbed the elevator from the parking right to the fourth floor. Made it to the lecture room (basically the lab room being used to deliver the lecture) in time before Prof. Steve Mann introduced us to today's guest speaker, Jeanne Randolph - a "cultural critic, author, performance artist and psychiatrist" [1] - and a lovely lady, who entertained us for the first one and a half hours of the three hour lecture slot - giving us an insight into her work and the work of her colleague [insert name], and dove us into a completely different form of (engineered) art. Before leaving, she handed out a book of some of her work to each table.
Now, 4pm, had to head from the Myhal building to the fourth floor of the Earth Science building. Nice building, as in you get to see a bunch of rocks and minerals displayed on the ground floor, and a few plants being grown (at least they look like plants); but here's the thing, to get to the tutorial room (ES4000), you have to go through a maze, and when I say maze, I mean a real maze, no instructions or clear indications, you just have to keep going until either you reach right before the room where an A4-sized page is taped on the wall with an arrow pointing in a possible direction the room may be (like you still get to pick which alley the arrow is pointing to - or, you ended up on the other side of the building and you have to got all the way back the entire loop, yes, a looped corridor; the intention of these architects and engineers is questionable - at least made a hanging corridor cutting through the loop :(
And now, it's 6pm and starting to snow, yet the Nuclear Reactor's course's TA decides to run past the two hour mark - 6:06pm, I have to make a run for it leaving in the middle to get to the other side in order to reach my next 6-8pm lecture on time. 400m and 7 levels of (4 down and 3 up); 4 minutes remaining. Made it at 6:11pm - luckily not all UofT professors are religious of the 10 minutes past the hour start time; they were still setting up the stage for today's guest speaker, Prof. Joseph Wong - at the Munk School of Global Affairs. He shared some great insights on projects he and his colleagues are involved in, especially through "The Research Alliance" group. He also shared some of his published books, of which one was criticized after about 20 years of being published, which I found really interesting, that a group would actually contact a writer after decades to question their work - instead of just silently improving it themselves - this also showed how certain political literature was no longer completely actuate compared to what it was not too long ago (like perhaps just a timeframe of one generation).
Snow flurries outside, but I'm glad this last lecture was in the same building my car was parked in - took the elevator straight down to the parking level :) Benefits of leaving after 7pm is that from most roads, after 7pm you are allowed to turn left onto Spadina Ave., instead of having to explore new tiny roads in Downtown Toronto because of no left turns, no right turns, and no going straight signs posted on almost every intersection. Roads are still relatively clear at the moment - almost no snow accumulation. From Spadina, took the Gardiner Express, then merged onto HWY 427, where traffic was slowing a bit down due to reduce visibility - cars going an average of 90 km/h in a posted 100 km/h - and then there is me sticking to 100 km/h just so I get home before someone decides it's time to collide and block the collector lanes for the next whole hour. From HWY 427 merged onto HWY 401 (W), and now people decided it's time to hit their brakes, and me not trusting my car's winter weather traction, decided to not change lanes to pass traffic - at the end of my trip it only increased my estimated arrival time by a couple of minutes :) As soon as I exited the highway, I realized snow removal on city roads are not as much prioritized as the highways - especially not the residential roads - as soon as I turned onto one leading to my house, you could feel your brakes not engaging properly. Made it home in one piece around 8:20pm :)
Long day, but still thought it would be a fantastic idea to go on a short roadtrip at 11:30pm, despite severe weather condition warnings for the night and early morning. I open my garage door and see snow blowing, starting to accumulate. I carefully exit my driveway and calmly drive at speeds around 20 km/h - roads were completely empty (smart people staying indoors I guess). I decided to keep going straight on a road crossing two cities, until the road ended - at this point roads were extremely slippery - the cars in front clearly skidding when trying to stop at red lights; posted 80 km/h, I stuck going at 30-40 km/h - couldn't even drive in my lane, markings and even the curb were invisible at this point. I kept driving - met snow plow machines on the way; decided to take the unplowed road after the plow turned on a different road. I kept going until I came to an intersection - silence, -18 C with windchill - I decided to open my windows for some fresh air - with the heater on, the mix of air actually felt nice. Now, I decided I've come far and should grab the highway back home; ended up missing the turn for the highway. So I continued until I saw posted highway arrows. I turned to follow them, and... it was a narrow road with not too much visibility and soft road edges - my car's wheel leaned over into the ditch, I tried to turn back on to the road, however I was losing traction (yellow traction light on the dash) - finally, I pulled out, and with that force the car skid, rotated 90 degrees, and went over to the other side and made a full U-turn :( Posted speeds of 80 km/h I was driving at 30, and still this happened. Instead of the usual 25 minutes drive back in normal conditions, it took my an entire 2 hours to get back. I guess weather warnings are there for a reason :(
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