Summer Time.

It's official, Summer has finally begun. Well, actually it started last week, but I've been too busy with closing off the end of semester business to notice.

We got some cool games from my CSCE 4220 class this semester, although unfortunately few of the artists from the Game Art class in the College of Visual Arts and Design were able to follow through with fully animated characters. Nonetheless, my programmers were able to adapt. See the movies for some of the games.

My topics class also generated some cool projects, some of which you can see here. There are several that are not postable yet though, so look forward to seeing those in the (hopefully) near future.

On the plus side, 4 alumni got jobs in the game industry this year, bringing the total up to 49. I'm still hoping to reach 50 this year. The full list is online.

Are we surprised at the following? Probably not.

University of Houston

I just got back from a day and a half at the University of Houston. I gave a colloquium yesterday on game programming classes and research. They took care of me very well, a driver met me at the airport and took me to the hotel, the hotel and meals were all paid for, and even the flight booking was taken care of for me. None of the usual paying for myself then waiting five weeks for a reimbursement. All I had to do is show up. Now that's how it should be done. My own department doesn't even have a budget for colloquium visitors.

Game Programming Certificate

On Wednesday this week the university's Undergraduate Curriculum Committee passed my request for a Game Programming Certificate. This is the last step in a long process - first the Department of Computer Science & Engineering's Undergraduate Committee had to approve it, then the College of Engineering's Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, then the aforementioned committee.

Now I'm working on a brochure and a poster, with a webpage soon to follow. I'm stoked.

Now I'm really depressed.

The US News and World Report ranks UNT as a Tier 4 National university. We're not in very distinguished company there. Bummer. I'm doing my part, what's everybody else doing?

My Declining Career

I was depressed to find the Quacquarelli Symonds website, which hosts the Times Higher Education Supplement's World University Rankings.

Looking at the Top 400 Universities worldwide for 2007, I find that my undergraduate school, the University of Queensland in Australia, comes in at number 33. My graduate school, the University of Warwick in England, is a step down at number 57. My Assistant Professoring was done at Penn State, number 90.

I searched long and hard for my current employers, the University of North Texas in the Top 400 and in the next 100. But it doesn't seem to be there.

My career seems to be a long downhill slide. I wouldn't mind so much, but I'm underappreciated by UNT.

Viva Spring Break!

This week was Spring Break. My wife and my youngest daughter promptly came down with the flu, not your normal measly three-day cold, but the genuine flu. My wife is a constant reminder that the German for "sick" is "krank"... she's constantly cranky that is. So my Spring Break has consisted mostly of hiding in the spare bedroom in an effort not to get sick, while emerging to cook meals and to nag the children to clean up after themselves, the latter a vital job that my wife is unable to do while she's sick, hence she delegates it to me.

Today she insisted that she was well enough to drag us all through the Turner exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art. Which was well and good, I suppose, but my favorite part of the DMA is a small permanent exhibit on Sir Winston Churchill including some feathers from his favorite budgie. So here they are, for your instruction and edification, Winston Churchill's budgie Toby's tail feathers.