Monday, June 29, 2009

Preparing for ISSGC'09 -- only a week away


Students will share their experiences at the International Summer School on Grid Computing ISSGC09 (www.issgc.org) -- July 2009. For more info, also see https://twiki.grid.iu.edu/bin/view/Education/OrientationISSG09.

ISSGC'09 draws near

I guess I should start my first post on this blog with a tad introduction, as this should be for posterity as well as for the trip...

I'm just this guy, ya know? I've been to a half-a-dozen schools, doing this and that, and it wasn't till the last one that I got serious about getting a four-year degree (although I have an AAS as well and have traveled, so take the 6 figure with a grain of salt), but my education is nowhere near complete. As I've struggled with what I would like to do for a graduate degree in my upper-classman years at the University of Houston - Downtown, I got the opportunity to play with clusters and grids, even if that experience was lacking. To say I know anything substantial about clusters and grids would be comparable to saying a person was qualified to compete in the Le Mans tournament merely by having ridden in a motorcoach. But what can I say, I learn quickly.

So, having given you that convoluted back-story (a back-story that I shall try and avoid as much as possible in all my future OSG-EOT posts), let it be sufficient to say that I imagine myself to be one of the most junior participants in this journey. Perhaps calling myself one of the most junior is a bit romantic, but so be it, until this experience is over I should maintain a distinct naïveté.

So what, then, shall we discuss now that we've established that I'm young and inexperienced? What about my expectations of myself in this journey.

I intend to use this blog-space to comment on what:
  • We at the school have discussed throughout the day
  • I thought was exceptionally interesting
  • I still don't understand from the day
  • Any pictures that I take that are neat
  • I think another student in my position might need to know!
I think those would be good enough from my own part, and if I come up with anything else, well, what a wonderful surprise. So with that, I bid you adieu, and let's journey together, shall we?

And I'll part with a oft-quoted quip (seeing as how I'm excited and ready to travel!)
The journey of a thousand miles begins beneath one's feet. - Lao-tzu