Shilling for pitas

I’m not really sure whether I stated that I would not shill for the University, but if I did, I broke that promise this week. On Monday was Explorations which exposed grade 6-8 students to all the cool things that engineering is about. On Tuesday was Campus Day, which allowed older high school students that are about to enter University a chance to see what the campus is like. In both cases, Keith and I showed off our Intelligent Parking System. Honestly, I’m in love with our project. We’ve poured so much work into it that I’ll miss it when we’re gone.

Anyway, to prepare for this event, we created a video which summarized what our project is capable of. I’d post it here, but it’s a bit of a large file. I used Spanish Flea as the background music, which overall was a good judgement call. On Monday, when we showed it off to the younger kids, they enjoyed the slightly goofy music. The parents were also bopping their heads along to the music. When it came to the vehicle though, it seemed like the young kids weren’t all too impressed. Well chee, they just can’t grasp the amount of complexity that went into the creation of the project. I was kind of disappointed. The older kids on Tuesday, however, really did seem to appreciate the damn thing. There were a lot of gasps of “oh my gawd, that’s so cool!” and other expressions of disbelief. I’m glad they understood.

Unlike the Symposium, Keith and I got a chance to sit down most of the time, so we fared better. As well, we didn’t have to wear suits. Unfortunately, the food was pretty bad; it was even worse than the food we had at the Symposium. On Campus Day, the presenters were fed pita wraps similar to those from the C&D. The bread was dry. The fillings left a lot to be desired. I ate a salmon wrap that tasted like a tuna sandwich gone horribly wrong. As I was finishing it off, Keith said something to the effect of “Man, this cheese just makes me want to puke.” When I heard that, I ended up gagging. In the end, I had to spit up the wrap.

There were only a few presenters. I mean, couldn’t the bloody ECE department spend the extra bit to feed us better? It seems that every time they have an event, the department always gives us piss poor food from the same place. None of the other engineering departments have this issue. To be honest, it doesn’t reflect well on them. Although, I must say that the two profs that seemed to be organizing the event seemed to make a bit of effort to make sure that we were comfortable. As such, I think that the blame for the food probably wouldn’t fall on their shoulders. Then again, I’m not sure who to blame.

Anyway, back to the event and the students…most of the high school students who came in were 7 to 8 years younger than Keith and me. It’s quite mind boggling, really. So many of them were so hopefuly and full of enthusiasm. The cynic in me laughs and wonders how long it will take before they’re broken. Then again, here I am, bitter, but still shilling for the department in return for shitty pitas. It’s mildly sad. However, the wheels have got to keep on turning, know what I mean? The cycle must continue. Besides, to me, the presentation was less about the department, and less about the university, but more about the love of the IPS project. I suppose that’s what kept me at least a bit sane.

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