Catan + Star Trek = WIN

I'm a board game fan and I guess it goes without saying that I'm a huge fan of Star Trek as well.  One of the things that helped us make it through long nights in the lab during grad school was playing Settlers of Catan while waiting for our experiments to finish.  So when I saw a new Star Trek-themed Catan game, I knew I had to try it.  It's due out in March 2012 and you can be sure to see a review here from me!

Coastal Road Trip

I got the week off for Thanksgiving and an office move, so I'm going on a road trip to Northern California.  I hope to see more of this:

than this:

Sometimes I find myself missing grad school.
Then it snows, and I rejoice in the knowledge
that I'm not stuck up there anymore.

To the detriment of my attempt at NaBloPoMo, posts after today might be spotty.  I'll sure try though!  In the meantime, enjoy the snow, folks!

Public Table Extraction Dataset

I am posting a copy of the table extraction dataset I created for my thesis here.

The dataset has three parts:

• PublicTableExtractionDataset, a SQL database to keep track of the html pages and tables and which contains the manual labels of 'data table' or 'layout table'
• JavaCrawlerTestDump, a folder containing all the crawled html pages
• TableDump, a folder containing all the extracted tables from each crawled html page

Practical Information

Schema: PublicTableExtractionDataset consists of two tables, HTMLPages and Table_Contents. HTMLPages contains information on where html pages are located and how to identify them, while Table_Contents contains information on each table extracted from each HTMLPage, as well as the type of table it is (a value of '1' indicates a layout table, while a value of '2' indicates a data table).

The schema for the two tables is as follows:

HTMLPages:

• File_ID (int, not null)
• File_Name (varchar(200), not null)
• Page_Domain (varchar(200), not null)
• URL (varchar(1000), not null)
• Page_Type(int, not null)

Table_Contents:

• File_ID (int, not null)
• Table_ID (int, not null)
• Table_File_Location (varchar(200), not null)
• Table_Type (int, null)

Format: This database is a backup of the original SQL database I used. You will need to import it to a new database using the 'import database' wizard provided with SQL Server. I have tested this with the express and full versions of SQL Server 2000 and 2008, so please let me know if you have any questions.

Accessing html pages and tables: I have removed the folder locations from the database, but you can easily add your own. For example, to update the HTMLPages SQL table to add the locations, you could use the following query:

update HTMLPages

set File_Name = 'new location' + File_Name

from HTMLPages

The same query could be used to update the Table_Contents table, just remember to change HTMLPages to Table_Contents.

Dataset Statistics

I collected 9,365 HTML pages which contain the <table> tag from 512 random domains. These pages contain a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 1,539 table pages. 6,620 table pages consist only of non-data tables, while 2,745 pages consist of at least one data table.

The total number of tables collected was 78,438, with 74,202 (94.6%) of these being non-data tables, and 4,236 (5.4%) being data tables.

More Details

You can read more about this data set and the experiments I used it for in my thesis.

Have I Mentioned Lately...

...that I graduated (last October)? Just realized that my whole website needs an update.

Crunch Time

This is my second 7-day week this month. On the bright side, it is very quiet on weekends and easy to concentrate, and I can get a lot done. I also don't feel guilty going out in the evenings on weekends if I work during the day. Still...

Welcome to the Zombie Warzone!

That is the title of one of the latest pages to appear in my set of crawled pages. Seems to be a site for some online game and groups that are playing it. Funny!

Progress & Updates

2008 just flew by and given my crazy schedule over the past few months, I've been neglecting my blog a little. At any rate, I wanted to summarize my progress over the past year. Some neat things happened, including:

• being awarded a NSERC/MITACS Industrial Postgraduate Scholarship
• completing three interesting projects during my internship
• getting two papers published, one of which is in a top database conference
• working on a patent application
• being invited to the 2008 Google Workshop for Women Engineers in San Jose
• winning a Google Global Community Scholarship in recognition of my service work in the School of Computing Science/WICS

So what's in store for me this year? Well, I've already blogged a little about my thesis. I'm working hard on that now, but I will also take one course (CMPT 881, Algorithms for Large Datasets). I'm wrapping up my internship and getting ready to graduate...and thinking a lot about What Comes Next.

Funny Biproducts of Research

I've recently begun working full-throttle on my Master's thesis. The first stage requires crawling a number of pages looking for certain HTML features within them. Unfortunately, the feature I am interested in can be used in multiple ways, and I need to make sure manually that each page contains the one I need. Luckily I was able to make an interface that significantly speeds up this process, but the whole process still requires several hours of clicking 'keep' or 'reject' buttons. On the bright side, I got to see first-hand what an eclectic collection of pages I've crawled:

• several pages of sumo wrestler bios and statistics
• lots of pages about the odds on horse races
• many pages in Estonian
• a lot of pages about finances, weather, and distaster information

It's a fun project and hopefully I'll be able to blog more about it as I progress with each stage of it.

A Momentous Occasion

Actually, it's a little anti-climactic.

But, after 10+ months, an important document has finally been signed. Those following the Saga of the Forms will understand the importance of this document (at least, to me).


I deliberately blurred the text but rest assured, it is actually over and done with!

Best Day Ever!

Today was great. It started off at 6am, when I found out my paper got accepted to EDBT 2009, a data mining conference taking place in St. Petersburg this year. Later in the day I gave a presentation at work which (well, at least I thought) went really well. Ok, maybe that doesn't sound so great. But your perspective changes once you've been in grad school a while!

End of Semester Updates

I have had a very busy month. I recently started working at my internship full-time, but am also working on my thesis project - a good chunk of which I've managed to finish on evenings, weekends, and lunches, over the past 3 weeks. So, I haven't had much time to update recently. But that's not to say nothing's been happening!

Yesterday we held our "End of Semester" Beach BBQ and Fireworks Event (for WICS). The day started around 2:30, when we met up at SFU. That morning, I had been to several different stores looking for a bocce set, with no luck, so we first set out to find one. So began the Great Bocce Hunt. We went to Lougheed Mall, where a search of Wallmart was fruitless. We moved on to Sport Chek, which wanted $70 for a set! Angelica found the number for Canadian Tire and we decided to head there next. Luckily, we managed to find a nice set for around $20, and then we were off to the beach.

After some adventures in BBQ lighting:


we finally got started with the cooking, in between several rounds of bocce:


While we were doing this, someone from a fellow group of barbeque-ers approached us asking for something to light their BBQ with. We gave them some of our matches, and thought that was the end of it. But after finishing our food (or so we thought), he came back with two large packages of meat. Apparently they couldn't finish them and wanted to thank us for the matches. They wouldn't take no for an answer, and so we cooked both packages, one of which turned out to be some fairly prime cuts of pork (pre-marinated and everything!).



No sooner than had we finished cooking this free meat, a group of guys came running up to check out all our food. We couldn't eat it all so we gave them some, at which point the last member of their party came running up. I'm sure he didn't know about the food, but it seemed like he had some kind of built-in radar because he made a beeline straight for us. This was, as his friends called him, "The Olumpian" (apparently, a former Olympic swimmer?). He is a little lumpy for an athlete I guess, hence the new nickname. They invited us to their party a few blocks away, but we didn't take them up on it. And that rounds out the day - first we were given free meat, and then it was taken away.

In other news, I have a few exciting things to announce about this year's Grace Hopper Conference! First, I am going to blog about my experience there for the conference (officially!), and second, I won a Google Global Community Scholarship, which should fully cover my trip to Colorado in October! I can't tell you how exciting this is. Over 600 people applied and I really had no expectation of winning. It is an honour and I am really looking forward to going. :D

ωραία!

The summer semester started a few weeks ago, but I've been kept very busy so far. So busy, I haven't had time to blog! :(

We are off to a busy semester with WICS, and have already had our semesterly kick-off lunch and a technical workshop: Java to C++. I am pleased to report that both were very well attended, especially the workshop, with 20 students showing up for the low down on pointers and passing by reference.

Apart from WICS, I am once again busy with research, preparing a new user study on PLEDS and a new research project. I have a directed reading course on the go, as well as a part-time intership (hopefully more details on that in the future).

As for the fun department, we are coming to the end of a two week drought in Battlestar episodes, the next one coming on Friday (only four more days!). I've also been kayaking, and sight-seeing with one of my relatives from Greece. είναι πολύ καλά!

PHD Comics: Going Green

These guys are so good!

Now for a Quick Break

I finished my exam on Saturday. It didn't go as well as I would have liked, but here's hoping everything turns out ok in the end.

After having postponed it due to studying, I was finally able to get my hands on the second episode of Battlestar Galactica season 4, "Six of One".

*mild spoilers to follow*

Glad to see Adama stand on his own two feet and make up his own mind. It's weird that Laura isn't having the visions anymore - you'd think with her history and what happened the last time she was sick, she would, and that it might change her mind about Kara. I just find it a little odd to see her acting the way she is. We didn't get too many answers in this episode on the other plot lines, but at least the show is maintaining its momentum and carrying us forward, and so far we haven't had any crappy episodes like in Season 3 or 2 ('crappy' by BSG standards still being better than the other shows on TV right now!).

This weekend we had our first taste of real spring weather, too. It was beautiful, and I got out for a little while to VanDusen Gardens, where I got a few nice photos. :D This always makes me feel better.

The First Thing I'll Do Once My Exam is Over...

BSG 4x02 episode promo:


So I have an exam on Saturday, right in the middle of the day. I haven't blogged much because of this and a few other things that have been sucking up all my time. And I can't write about what I'm working on because it's all pretty much confidential. However, after this weekend I should get *a bit* of a break.

Oh, and next week, I plan to attend Droidmaker: George Lucas and the Digital Revolution, on the groundbreaking CGI work done for various films such as Star Wars. One of the speakers also worked on Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, known for the unforgettable "KHAN!".

Grad school is for insomniacs only. Those requiring sleep need not apply.

Work til 1am, sleep around 2:30, up at 5:30 to get to work on time. Can't wait for this semester to end (although admittedly, it's nowhere near as bad as last semester).

Ok, I'm off to recover.

PHD Comics: C-C-Coffee...

They must have all the major conference deadlines and write their comics around them. I am even working on the methodology section right now!!! O_o

PHD Comics: Lather, rinse, repeat

hee hee!

PHD Comics: A quiet evening at home

This comic is so accurate, it's scary.

Game Night

Last night I took a well-deserved break (after a week of marking marathons, paper writing, tutorial creating, assignment scrambling, and cupcake baking) and went to our Graduate Students Computing Science Association Game Night. Although it was pretty fun and I learned how to play poker properly for the first time (I even won a round!), I have to say that the game selection was a little lacking. The available games were Poker, Taboo, Scrabble, and Clue. Scrabble is a little too slow, and no one wanted to play Taboo. I haven't played Clue since I was about eight years old!

This has given me some ideas. I'd like to see a rousing game of Settlers of Catan, for instance! Maybe some unusual card games, like Fluxx or even Munchkins (we are computing scientists afterall, surely there are a significant many of us who if not having played D&D, can at least make fun of it)...

At any rate, perhaps this is a small and easy-to-organize event for WICS. Which would be cool, because for most of the event last night, there were only two of us girls there. :(