A place to describe all my experiences at Queen's.

June 1, 2007: Week 5.

The end of May and the start of June has arrived. I have spent some time to modify this web site so that each month is on a separate page. This is to make the files shorter, also it allows me to have a custom picture of the view from the lab. So far it is amazing to see how the trees have filled in with leaves but the sunshine has kept coming. So far the weather has been wonderful. Almost continual sun with a few quick breaks of rain / thunder. This week was spent learning more about Visual3D. I have been trying to figure out how to modify the report templates. I also have been continuing with the user interface design, modifying it trying to fit all the fields in that are needed without making it cluttered or hard to read. This has been a real challenge as there is so much that I am trying to fit in.

June 8, 2007: Week 6.

This week was spent working on the user interface. I was able to communicate with the DB2 database to retrieve information about the people who are involved in the trials. It was in many ways quite repetitive, you add more pages, then add connections between the pages. It is exciting the first time I was able to communicate with DB2. We also met with the grad students that will be joining Helen and I in the Computing Unplugged, a mentoring experience for grade 5 girls.

June 15, 2007: Week 7.

Monday was our first day mentoring other students in this case, grade 5 girls. They absolutely loved using the lego and were really interested in how to make the robot do new things. Also this week, Helen & I demonstrated what we have done so far on the user interface. There is a lot more work involved, but you can definitely see what it will look like. A bike, today was my first day on a bike in I don't know how long. After falling over into the flower bed the first time I got on, it wasn't too bad. It is certainly better than walking. I think I need some practice though. At the end of the week we discussed with the future users of the User Interface to determine things that needed to be changed. As well, there were changes in the database that will need to be reflected in the program. June 15th was also First Capital Day in Kingston www.firstcapitaldays.ca! This day commemorates Kingston's place in Canadian history as the nation's first capital. It was on this day in 1841 (I think) that Lord Sydenham opened the first Parliament of the United Provinces of Canada. Today that building is part of Kingston General Hospital (actually KGH rented the building as they needed more money to finish the rest of the KGH buildings)

June 22, 2007: Week 8. The weekend continued the First Capital Days celebration in town. On Saturday, there was Open Doors Ontario, a program that opens various historic sites to the public for free. This day was something not to miss. I managed to view many sites:

1. The Kingston Archeological Center, where they had lots of pottery that they have dug up from different sites around the Kingston area.
2. Several bed and breakfasts along Sydenham Street which were all quite fabulous.
3. Summerhill, this was the first building that housed Queen’s University (also a residence for members of parliament when the parliament was held here in Kingston)
4. The Museum of Health Care at Kingston, this is housed in the original residence for nurses. It has a very nice display on the clothing the nurses wore as well as a display on the developments Queen’s and the local hospitals have made to joint replacements. The display included were many samples of the devices invented and a video describing the computer assisted surgery.
5. Shoal Tower in Confederation Basin, this was one of 4 defensive towers built to protect the area. While it was never used, it is an impressive sight that adds to the shoreline of Kingston. Inside the second level is almost completely destroyed but the third defensive level still has some ancient canons and a wonderful view.
6. Kingston City Hall, I must admit that I didn’t get the full tour (must go back to get that) but it is a very interesting building with a beautiful ball room with fabulous stained glass windows and a rather unusual 70’s chandelier hanging in the City Council chambers.

As you can see I was rather busy Saturday but I really enjoyed seeing the sites. I will be adding more pictures to my site in the coming days.

The beginning of this week was focused on the Computing Unplugged program with Grade 5 girls. The second set was quite tiring as the girls had lots of energy but it was a lot of fun and they really enjoyed it. We also had our first day with the last group of students; they were focused and were really enjoying the robots and finding what they could do. I am looking forward to next week with them.

The remainder of the week was spent working on the User Interface and making changes to the design a bit.

June 29, 2007: Week 9.

Still plugging away on the User Interface, slowly but surely, it is adding features. Also, it no longer needs to be connected to the internet / database, this will allow users to be running the program anywhere, which will make it more useful for the clinical people. Towards the end of the weeek, I presented what we have done so far. It was useful to get together and understand what The database is changing, so that will take a bit more time. Also we are making it easier to change things later on as well started to have error checking to ensure the input is the best it can be.

Wednesday night, the Snowbirds performed over Kingston. It was a really good show. I ended up standing on the Wolfe Island Ferry Dock as there was no room in Confederation Square (the place designated for viewing). The dock was a very good place to view, I was able to take a lot of pictures of them. It isn't that easy to get good pictures since they were quite far away, but I did get some nice ones. They even flew directly over where I was standing. Interesting enough, there were quite a few people that I knew that were also standing on the dock. Afterwards, I went to play volleyball with some friends I have made since coming to Kingston. I had planned to go to Toronto on Friday afternoon with a group of people, but due to the Native blockades, the trip was cancelled. It was a bit disappointing, but you can win them all. It wasn't a very exciting week, but the long weekend coming up is looking to be a lot of fun.