I start my job at ARM tomorrow (technically today, I guess). I'm pretty excited but a little worried. They're paying me a lot, so I'm afraid they're going to expect me to be the Jesus Christ of circuit design or something...I think my experience at AMD (as well as my education at UT) has prepared me well, but their whole business is completely different. Tomorrow should just mostly be orientation, though, so I'm not that worried yet.
The past two weeks, I basically relaxed with Erin, played LOTS of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, worked on a couple little projects, and we hung out with Kerstan and his girlfriend Emily a bit as well. It's been a good two weeks, but I've been a little restless. I think I'll be happy with the regularity provided by working.
I've considered getting a facebook (partly due to pressure from Amber...and a little from Erin) but I don't know. I'm just not that concerned with it, I guess.
I'd like to start a couple more projects soon (jars of fireflies, some other microcontroller projects, maybe another small synth or two, winding my own pickup for my acoustic guitar)...but I'll wait for work to settle down.
Also, Erin and I need to start looking for houses for rent...we want to rent a house ideally in August...do that for a year or two, then start looking to buy a house.
Sometimes updates feel okay...sometimes they feel like this one =\
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Saturday, May 10, 2008
So much time passes so fast
Wow...so this semester is finally over. I can't believe that my last post was actually BEFORE the semester started.
This semester, looking back, has been a series of let-downs, I guess...but at the same time, I've grown and learned a lot, so I guess it hasn't been all bad.
School:
FUCK IT.
I had three classes: VHDL, Digital Circuits and Senior Design. The only class I actually sort of enjoyed was Digital Circuits, because it was very similar to the kind of things I had been doing at AMD. VHDL and Senior Design can suck a clown's dick, for all I care.
VHDL: So, this class had a lab component. The lab is a small room with about 10-15 computer stations (for a class of at least 40-60). Not only this, but the TAs are only actually in the lab for questions/lab checkout etc. during the noon-ish to 5pm hours except for Tuesday (the final day labs could be checked out). This sucked hard for me because I had class from 9:30 to 5:30 straight (with no breaks) on Tuesday and Thursday and work from 9-5 on Monday Wednesday and Friday...so my only time to use the hardware was realistically either Saturday or Tuesday (the day everyone and their mother and their mother's dog's best friend Stephen are in there trying to check these stupid things out on). The labs required a partner so I joined up with another guy who was working and taking classes. Long story short: he sucked...bad. I did all of the labs up until Spring Break, where he dropped the class. I got a new partner after this who actually had some idea as to what was going on, so I was marginally happier after this.
Also, one of the TAs was a jerk. The other TA was much nicer and understanding about things.
I got an A in this class...just barely; and I didn't have to take the final.
Senior Design: Our project was to make a touch-sensitive LED matrix that functioned as both input and output...we had teams of 4 but, up until literally 2 weeks or so before the thing was due, I did ALL of the fucking work. We had 2 guys working on programming who wouldn't know a data direction register from their asshole if you asked them. They took an entire MONTH to get a fairly straightforward analog-to-digital conversion on an input pin working. Fuck them. I wound up having to build all of our hardware in one day/night/next day...I literally sat in front of a soldering iron for 27 hours straight...
The thing wound up working, then we had to write a paper...I was the only one who finished my part of the paper to meet the deadline we set for ourselves...one guy didn't finish his shit until 6:30 the morning it was due...I didn't sleep that night, turned in our paper, gave a final presentation (which we didn't prepare for....and the girl in the group was an HOUR late for because she fell asleep and didn't wake up to her alarm) and somehow, I made an A in the class....what the hell?
Digital Circuits: This was my favorite class out of the 3 I took. In the beginning it was really good, because it was filling in all of the little gaps in knowledge I had gathered from my time working at AMD...but toward the end, we started going over things that I had a much higher understanding of than we even covered in the class, so I got a little bored. However, it was nice to finish a lab in 2 hours when I knew everyone in the class spent 20+ hours on...and still getting one of the highest grades (the only person I know who beat me literally drained 40 hours on the lab...and his timing was only slightly better)..
I took this final (my only final this semester) on Wednesday. Hopefully that comes back well enough to get an A...but at this point, I seriously don't care. If I get a B, I'm fine with that...
Work:
So, about a month ago now, I was told by my manager at AMD that, due to the fact that they were in a serious hiring freeze (and later announced that they would be laying off 10% of their workforce) that he had been unable to secure a position for me after my co-op ended. I was pretty crushed at first because I have grown fairly close (in a work-related sense) to my co-workers and my project. I really like the work environment at AMD and everything. Mike (my manager) assured me that it was not a performance based decision, but purely financial. Apparently his manager (and even the site director) took the case all the way to the VP of silicon design who still denied the request. Honestly, the fact that so many people made such an attempt is telling of the impression I've made with my manager. He tells me that, as soon as AMD is in decent financial shape, he's going to try to persuade me to come back.
So the job search was on. I applied to Centaur (they make microprocessors sold under the VIA brand) but they rejected me via a form letter without even giving me an interview or anything. I was a little bummed. I then started looking around. Major prospects were IBM, Intel, Sun, and ARM. I applied to ARM kind of on a whim...I applied for a position very similar to what I do at AMD while I was waiting for Erin to get out of her classes one day. They called me less than 48 hours later to set up a phone screening. After my phone screening, the next day they called to set up on-site interviews. The day I left my interview (about an hour and a half later, I'd say) they called to set up a second interview. So I'm thinking to myself, "Wow! This is going very fast." They had told me they had several other candidates to interview over the course of the next several weeks, but they seemed to really want me. During my second interview, I was told that they were considering me not only for the position for which I applied, but also for another position. Three days after my second on-site interview, they called me to tell me that they would be working out numbers and such and sending me an offer. This whole process took about 3 weeks (but I caused a week delay by scheduling my first on-site interview a week after my phone screen). My offer wound up being quite a bit more than I was really looking for and I'm pretty pleased with the numbers.
In other news: Kerstan and I have started skating again. I'm not to the same level I used to be, but it's slowly coming back. We sort of decided to do this because the creek we swam in last summer is dry right now...we're still hoping it'll come back, but I'm not so sure anymore. Also, our band is doing alright. We're not practicing as much as we used to; Erin and I hope to rent a house starting in August and the house we practice at now is kind of small and a hassle (4 guys live there and we don't want to be a bother...plus we have to carry a lot of gear back and forth and the drums are NEVER tuned the way I leave them...)
Erin and I are doing well. She has an internship this summer with a pretty decent company and seems excited about it. I really hope she enjoys working in industry as much as I have (or at least close enough to be happy). She really wasn't nearly as stressed this semester as she has been in previous ones. Her last final is right now (7pm to 10pm) so hopefully she's doing well.
I'm done with school (as long as that circuits final was well enough to pass the class...which, if it's not, I have NO idea how that could be). My parents/other family are forcing me to actually walk at graduation...which I'm not terribly happy about, but I can't really help that, I suppose. I'm still not sure who all is going to come, but it should be kind of a lot...my brother and his girlfriend are spending the night at our apartment that night, then we're going to go to San Marcos to swim in the river there. That night, we'll come back to Austin and probably go to Fogo De Chao for dinner (I told my brother that if ARM paid me a really sweet number, I'd take him there, because he'd been ranting about it for a while now).
Long entry....not even a very good one =\
This semester, looking back, has been a series of let-downs, I guess...but at the same time, I've grown and learned a lot, so I guess it hasn't been all bad.
School:
FUCK IT.
I had three classes: VHDL, Digital Circuits and Senior Design. The only class I actually sort of enjoyed was Digital Circuits, because it was very similar to the kind of things I had been doing at AMD. VHDL and Senior Design can suck a clown's dick, for all I care.
VHDL: So, this class had a lab component. The lab is a small room with about 10-15 computer stations (for a class of at least 40-60). Not only this, but the TAs are only actually in the lab for questions/lab checkout etc. during the noon-ish to 5pm hours except for Tuesday (the final day labs could be checked out). This sucked hard for me because I had class from 9:30 to 5:30 straight (with no breaks) on Tuesday and Thursday and work from 9-5 on Monday Wednesday and Friday...so my only time to use the hardware was realistically either Saturday or Tuesday (the day everyone and their mother and their mother's dog's best friend Stephen are in there trying to check these stupid things out on). The labs required a partner so I joined up with another guy who was working and taking classes. Long story short: he sucked...bad. I did all of the labs up until Spring Break, where he dropped the class. I got a new partner after this who actually had some idea as to what was going on, so I was marginally happier after this.
Also, one of the TAs was a jerk. The other TA was much nicer and understanding about things.
I got an A in this class...just barely; and I didn't have to take the final.
Senior Design: Our project was to make a touch-sensitive LED matrix that functioned as both input and output...we had teams of 4 but, up until literally 2 weeks or so before the thing was due, I did ALL of the fucking work. We had 2 guys working on programming who wouldn't know a data direction register from their asshole if you asked them. They took an entire MONTH to get a fairly straightforward analog-to-digital conversion on an input pin working. Fuck them. I wound up having to build all of our hardware in one day/night/next day...I literally sat in front of a soldering iron for 27 hours straight...
The thing wound up working, then we had to write a paper...I was the only one who finished my part of the paper to meet the deadline we set for ourselves...one guy didn't finish his shit until 6:30 the morning it was due...I didn't sleep that night, turned in our paper, gave a final presentation (which we didn't prepare for....and the girl in the group was an HOUR late for because she fell asleep and didn't wake up to her alarm) and somehow, I made an A in the class....what the hell?
Digital Circuits: This was my favorite class out of the 3 I took. In the beginning it was really good, because it was filling in all of the little gaps in knowledge I had gathered from my time working at AMD...but toward the end, we started going over things that I had a much higher understanding of than we even covered in the class, so I got a little bored. However, it was nice to finish a lab in 2 hours when I knew everyone in the class spent 20+ hours on...and still getting one of the highest grades (the only person I know who beat me literally drained 40 hours on the lab...and his timing was only slightly better)..
I took this final (my only final this semester) on Wednesday. Hopefully that comes back well enough to get an A...but at this point, I seriously don't care. If I get a B, I'm fine with that...
Work:
So, about a month ago now, I was told by my manager at AMD that, due to the fact that they were in a serious hiring freeze (and later announced that they would be laying off 10% of their workforce) that he had been unable to secure a position for me after my co-op ended. I was pretty crushed at first because I have grown fairly close (in a work-related sense) to my co-workers and my project. I really like the work environment at AMD and everything. Mike (my manager) assured me that it was not a performance based decision, but purely financial. Apparently his manager (and even the site director) took the case all the way to the VP of silicon design who still denied the request. Honestly, the fact that so many people made such an attempt is telling of the impression I've made with my manager. He tells me that, as soon as AMD is in decent financial shape, he's going to try to persuade me to come back.
So the job search was on. I applied to Centaur (they make microprocessors sold under the VIA brand) but they rejected me via a form letter without even giving me an interview or anything. I was a little bummed. I then started looking around. Major prospects were IBM, Intel, Sun, and ARM. I applied to ARM kind of on a whim...I applied for a position very similar to what I do at AMD while I was waiting for Erin to get out of her classes one day. They called me less than 48 hours later to set up a phone screening. After my phone screening, the next day they called to set up on-site interviews. The day I left my interview (about an hour and a half later, I'd say) they called to set up a second interview. So I'm thinking to myself, "Wow! This is going very fast." They had told me they had several other candidates to interview over the course of the next several weeks, but they seemed to really want me. During my second interview, I was told that they were considering me not only for the position for which I applied, but also for another position. Three days after my second on-site interview, they called me to tell me that they would be working out numbers and such and sending me an offer. This whole process took about 3 weeks (but I caused a week delay by scheduling my first on-site interview a week after my phone screen). My offer wound up being quite a bit more than I was really looking for and I'm pretty pleased with the numbers.
In other news: Kerstan and I have started skating again. I'm not to the same level I used to be, but it's slowly coming back. We sort of decided to do this because the creek we swam in last summer is dry right now...we're still hoping it'll come back, but I'm not so sure anymore. Also, our band is doing alright. We're not practicing as much as we used to; Erin and I hope to rent a house starting in August and the house we practice at now is kind of small and a hassle (4 guys live there and we don't want to be a bother...plus we have to carry a lot of gear back and forth and the drums are NEVER tuned the way I leave them...)
Erin and I are doing well. She has an internship this summer with a pretty decent company and seems excited about it. I really hope she enjoys working in industry as much as I have (or at least close enough to be happy). She really wasn't nearly as stressed this semester as she has been in previous ones. Her last final is right now (7pm to 10pm) so hopefully she's doing well.
I'm done with school (as long as that circuits final was well enough to pass the class...which, if it's not, I have NO idea how that could be). My parents/other family are forcing me to actually walk at graduation...which I'm not terribly happy about, but I can't really help that, I suppose. I'm still not sure who all is going to come, but it should be kind of a lot...my brother and his girlfriend are spending the night at our apartment that night, then we're going to go to San Marcos to swim in the river there. That night, we'll come back to Austin and probably go to Fogo De Chao for dinner (I told my brother that if ARM paid me a really sweet number, I'd take him there, because he'd been ranting about it for a while now).
Long entry....not even a very good one =\
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
I saw you move a certain way
It's been a while since I updated...I doubt I'll remember everything...
I spent Christmas Eve with Erin and her family at her grandparents' house. We had to sleep in separate rooms =\ Christmas day with my family, then back to Austin that evening. Erin and I are doing well. We went out and bought her a nice ring...an engagement ring of sorts. It's getting re-sized and will be ready when we get back from Seattle. (Next week...Jan 7 through 12) We've discussed the idea of getting married....we want to, but need to find the time, I suppose. I mean, we've been together for over 5 years now..it's almost like we're already married, in lots of ways. We're very compatible on most subjects (the only places we tend to differ are when it comes to how we keep our work-spaces...I prefer a concentrated sort of chaos....she likes things to be wide-spread and organized, but tidy) Considering that most houses are 3-bedroom or larger, we'll probably just each have our own work room when we have a house.
I had a lot of time off from work (from Monday, Xmas Eve up til Tuesday, New Years Day). I worked on some instruments I'm building (electric drums) as well as getting my desktop computer up and running again, so I can download some tv shows to send to Elliott. Like I mentioned earlier, Erin and I are going to Seattle to visit Omar and for some sight-seeing. We're going to be there for a week, then coming back in time for the next semester at school to start. It'll be my last and Erin's second to last.
My running has been on a pretty long break. I just don't feel so motivated to do it when it's so goddamn cold...walking back to the apartment drenched in sweat is just not very sweet.
Kerstan and I have started a band, I guess...vocals, guitar and drums (and only snare/bass drum/percussion odds and ends). It's come along pretty well. He's out of town for a month, though, so no time to practice. Hopefully I can keep a few hours on the weekend free for practice when school is back in session...I'm taking 10 hours and working 24 D:
I spent Christmas Eve with Erin and her family at her grandparents' house. We had to sleep in separate rooms =\ Christmas day with my family, then back to Austin that evening. Erin and I are doing well. We went out and bought her a nice ring...an engagement ring of sorts. It's getting re-sized and will be ready when we get back from Seattle. (Next week...Jan 7 through 12) We've discussed the idea of getting married....we want to, but need to find the time, I suppose. I mean, we've been together for over 5 years now..it's almost like we're already married, in lots of ways. We're very compatible on most subjects (the only places we tend to differ are when it comes to how we keep our work-spaces...I prefer a concentrated sort of chaos....she likes things to be wide-spread and organized, but tidy) Considering that most houses are 3-bedroom or larger, we'll probably just each have our own work room when we have a house.
I had a lot of time off from work (from Monday, Xmas Eve up til Tuesday, New Years Day). I worked on some instruments I'm building (electric drums) as well as getting my desktop computer up and running again, so I can download some tv shows to send to Elliott. Like I mentioned earlier, Erin and I are going to Seattle to visit Omar and for some sight-seeing. We're going to be there for a week, then coming back in time for the next semester at school to start. It'll be my last and Erin's second to last.
My running has been on a pretty long break. I just don't feel so motivated to do it when it's so goddamn cold...walking back to the apartment drenched in sweat is just not very sweet.
Kerstan and I have started a band, I guess...vocals, guitar and drums (and only snare/bass drum/percussion odds and ends). It's come along pretty well. He's out of town for a month, though, so no time to practice. Hopefully I can keep a few hours on the weekend free for practice when school is back in session...I'm taking 10 hours and working 24 D:
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Yes?
I ran 5 miles today in just under 50 minutes..it was kind of boring, but I got into a rhythm...
I etched some more PCBs last night and I drilled all the holes today...using my dremel copy works a LOT better than a battery powered drill...a lot better control. I didn't break a single bit and I drilled way more holes than last time (when I broke, like, 3). However, I realized that the pcb layout for 2 of my boards was backwards. I really hope I can just populate the wrong side of the board okay......damnit.
Bed time? Maybe.
I etched some more PCBs last night and I drilled all the holes today...using my dremel copy works a LOT better than a battery powered drill...a lot better control. I didn't break a single bit and I drilled way more holes than last time (when I broke, like, 3). However, I realized that the pcb layout for 2 of my boards was backwards. I really hope I can just populate the wrong side of the board okay......damnit.
Bed time? Maybe.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Update
I'd like to try to update more frequently, but I just have so little interest...I think because I don't spend so much time sitting around on the instant messenger like I did in high school.
I've been keeping up with my working out schedule pretty well. I suppose I can see results...so that's good. I upped my running to 3 miles in just under 30 minutes last Thursday...I don't know that I could do more than 3, just because it's so goddamn boring. The weights have done what I wanted; I built a little muscle, but it's more of a toning thing.
I'm probably going to be working at AMD part time during my last semester. It seems like everyone at this site really wants me to stay...it'll just be a matter of them convincing the HR people that I should stay...
Erin and I have our anniversary this Friday...five years. It's kind of nuts...we've been together almost a quarter of my life. We're not doing anything super special for it; going out to eat, probably...but we're not terribly interested in the gift-giving stuff.
We bought plane tickets to go visit Omar in Washington state in early January (spend my birthday there). We'll be there for 5 nights, so it should be fun. I haven't seen Omar in a really long time, so it will be really nice.
Erin and I are going to part of Thanksgiving day with her family and part of it with mine, then come back to Austin for the night...it'll be loads of driving, but less awkward family stuff.
I'm waiting on some components to arrive in the mail...I am really excited about the stuff I'm about to build. I put that synth I built into the case from our busted VCR...it looks pretty sweet, too. I'm not 100% certain what I'll build these modules into, but I know I need to find out soon(or plan to use some sort of harnesses to make wiring cleaner)...maybe I'll buy another VCR at goodwill or something...
I've been keeping up with my working out schedule pretty well. I suppose I can see results...so that's good. I upped my running to 3 miles in just under 30 minutes last Thursday...I don't know that I could do more than 3, just because it's so goddamn boring. The weights have done what I wanted; I built a little muscle, but it's more of a toning thing.
I'm probably going to be working at AMD part time during my last semester. It seems like everyone at this site really wants me to stay...it'll just be a matter of them convincing the HR people that I should stay...
Erin and I have our anniversary this Friday...five years. It's kind of nuts...we've been together almost a quarter of my life. We're not doing anything super special for it; going out to eat, probably...but we're not terribly interested in the gift-giving stuff.
We bought plane tickets to go visit Omar in Washington state in early January (spend my birthday there). We'll be there for 5 nights, so it should be fun. I haven't seen Omar in a really long time, so it will be really nice.
Erin and I are going to part of Thanksgiving day with her family and part of it with mine, then come back to Austin for the night...it'll be loads of driving, but less awkward family stuff.
I'm waiting on some components to arrive in the mail...I am really excited about the stuff I'm about to build. I put that synth I built into the case from our busted VCR...it looks pretty sweet, too. I'm not 100% certain what I'll build these modules into, but I know I need to find out soon(or plan to use some sort of harnesses to make wiring cleaner)...maybe I'll buy another VCR at goodwill or something...
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Thursday, October 11, 2007
bleh
I just got back from exercising. I decided I'd start something semi-structured today and see how long I can keep up with it. Basically, my exercise will go as follows:
20-25 minutes of weights (3 sets of 15 reps of whatever I do that day)
20-25 minutes of running
I'm going to try to keep track of how heavy the weights are and try to adjust accordingly...meh. Whatever. I hate exercising.
For other stuff:
I've been on my own at work this week. The guy I work closest with has been out of town and he left me with some pretty important tasks...I haven't screwed anything up yet, and I only have tomorrow left...yesss!
My classes for my next (and final) semester are all on Tuesday/Thursday...in a tragic turn of events, my co-op semesters won't count toward my degree at all....which is a shame. However, that just means I need to take a class I wanted to take anyway. I'll have Digital Circuits from 9:30-11, VHDL from 11-12:30 and Senior Design from 3:30-5:00 (I think...that's off the top of my head)
I talked to the guy I work with about these classes because he went to UT...he asked when they met and stuff and recommended that I work MWF at AMD...when he gets back, I'm going to let him know that I'm interested in doing that. I'm used to working when I'm in school anyway...so I don't think it'll be that big of a deal.
I've been working with my synth quite a lot lately. I'm trying to get it to function as a two-instrument drum trigger....we'll just see how that goes. I may have to settle for a single instrument drum trigger...but that's okay, because I wanted to build a devoted snare synth anyhow...
In other musical news, I played drums with Kerstan in Katy 2 weeks ago. It was the first time I'd played in a long time...we worked on some stuff he's got kicking around in his head. We might record it and try to play some shows...really neat sound though. Kerstan will be playing the acoustic guitar (sort of furious John Darnielle style) I'll be playing a VERY minimal drum kit (snare, bass drum and MAYBE a hi-hat) and Kerstan will be singing, but sort of calmly...it should be sweet
I've heard The Octopus Project's newest album, "Hello, Avalanche" and it is really good. I hope I'll be able to see them next month when they play at Emo's...their shows are always really good.
20-25 minutes of weights (3 sets of 15 reps of whatever I do that day)
20-25 minutes of running
I'm going to try to keep track of how heavy the weights are and try to adjust accordingly...meh. Whatever. I hate exercising.
For other stuff:
I've been on my own at work this week. The guy I work closest with has been out of town and he left me with some pretty important tasks...I haven't screwed anything up yet, and I only have tomorrow left...yesss!
My classes for my next (and final) semester are all on Tuesday/Thursday...in a tragic turn of events, my co-op semesters won't count toward my degree at all....which is a shame. However, that just means I need to take a class I wanted to take anyway. I'll have Digital Circuits from 9:30-11, VHDL from 11-12:30 and Senior Design from 3:30-5:00 (I think...that's off the top of my head)
I talked to the guy I work with about these classes because he went to UT...he asked when they met and stuff and recommended that I work MWF at AMD...when he gets back, I'm going to let him know that I'm interested in doing that. I'm used to working when I'm in school anyway...so I don't think it'll be that big of a deal.
I've been working with my synth quite a lot lately. I'm trying to get it to function as a two-instrument drum trigger....we'll just see how that goes. I may have to settle for a single instrument drum trigger...but that's okay, because I wanted to build a devoted snare synth anyhow...
In other musical news, I played drums with Kerstan in Katy 2 weeks ago. It was the first time I'd played in a long time...we worked on some stuff he's got kicking around in his head. We might record it and try to play some shows...really neat sound though. Kerstan will be playing the acoustic guitar (sort of furious John Darnielle style) I'll be playing a VERY minimal drum kit (snare, bass drum and MAYBE a hi-hat) and Kerstan will be singing, but sort of calmly...it should be sweet
I've heard The Octopus Project's newest album, "Hello, Avalanche" and it is really good. I hope I'll be able to see them next month when they play at Emo's...their shows are always really good.
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