Chris' Updates

My most exciting news to report is that I've received and accepted a job offer at Northrop Grumman! I've been interviewing pretty hard for the last couple of months, and Northrop Grumman gave me a great offer on a great-looking job. Once I graduate from CU next May, I'll start working in their Information Systems division, writing, maintaining and supporting software for national defense systems. I don't know exactly what the job will entail and what sort of systems I'll be working on because the details are classified (and even if I knew I wouldn't broadcast them here), but one of the engineers interviewing me assured me that "it's just data." I'm really glad that the interviewing process is done for now, that I know what I'm doing after I graduate, and that I have a great job at a great company waiting for me! Now all I have to do is graduate. I'm not expecting that to be really difficult, but I do have to keep working at a steady p...

As you probably read in my previous post, I just bought a new MacBook. I've been slowly getting used to its quirks, and to the Mac "way of thinking," for lack of a better term. I've learned a lot, and I thought it might be useful to share some of my experiences. First, one of the most important discoveries I've made. Tonight I transferred my music collection on to the Mac. I've used iTunes before and I'm happy enough to just stay with that, but I was having issues at first. Most of my MP3 files were imported into the library just fine, but some failed to show up. I tried all sorts of things: the import tool, double clicking, clicking and dragging. Snow Leopard's built-in audio preview was able to play them, but iTunes refused to acknowledge the existence of these certain files. After looking around for a while, I learned that this might happen if the MP3 file's headers were a little  corrupted; the files would play in most players, but not iTunes...

Perhaps its time to change the title of my blog once again; it started out as Chris' Almost-Daily Updates, has now moved to Chris' Weekly Updates, and is probably more accurately described now as Chris' Monthly Updates. But I digress. I've officially gotten back into my busy mode of living. I'm constantly switching tasks, but only occasionally do those tasks include taking the dog for a walk or to the dog park, or playing computer games, or cleaning the house. Mostly my time is being occupied by homework and job searching. Homework this semester has taken the rhythm of focusing on one project for one class for a few days solid, turning that in, then focusing on something different. It's a little hectic doing this because it constantly feels like I'm working on things at the last minute. I'm probably still spending an appropriate amount of time on each assignment, but its always close to the deadline. Senior project has been going well so far; I reall...

It's official, senior project has begun. The professor, Bruce Sanders, just finalized teams and projects. It's been a bit of a bumpy ride for me, getting through this process. Two weeks ago, I thought I had everything laid out. I had a project lined up, working for the startup that I interviewed with over the summer, with the other student they had considered hiring, plus whoever we could find for our team of 4 to 5. Unfortunately, at the last minute, we gained too many people for the team. Our extras just happened to be all of her friends. I guess the kind way of saying it is that she found people that she knew she could work with. The unkind way of saying it is that even though we were basically equals, she still decided she had the authority to kick me off in favor of her friends. It's too bad, because I was really looking forward to that project. But the good news is that I think I've a good team and project. I'll be working with one guy I've worked with b...

I've purchased my books, packed my pencils, and updated my Ubuntu software. It's time to head back to school again, for what should be my last fall semester, at least for a while. I should be graduating in May, and I don't plan to go back and earn my Master's degree immediately. For the next few months, I'll be working on computer science senior project, network systems, statistics, and just for fun (and to fulfill natural science requirements), astronomy. I'm really looking forward to senior project. It's a chance to finally work on a substantial piece of software, not just little toy examples and homework assignments that get tossed away after a week. I've had friends go through senior project before, and a couple of them suggested that doing a thesis instead would be less of a pain. While I value their warning, and believe that it probably would be less annoying to do a thesis on my own, I can't help but think that the project is going to be val...

Last Thursday was my last day of class for the summer, and I'm glad to be finished with this Matrix Methods and Applications class. I was really looking forward to the applications, but it turned out to be all methods. Once again, I've learned a lot of math techniques and I'm left with no idea when they're useful. Brilliant. I don't have my grade back, but I'm pretty sure I passed at least. A couple of weeks ago, Ashley and I and some friends took a camping trip up to Kelly Dahl campground near Nederland. We did a lot of catching up, and a little hiking and geocaching. You can check out our photos on Picasa . We took Apollo, and he had a blast. It was great to get outdoors and remember that I can tear myself away from computers when I need to. I spend a lot of my time using my computers. Even when I go out around town, I have my G1, which has more processing power than our family's first computer, and constantly keeps me connected to the internet. When I...

In other news, I've been bitten by a curiosity for electronics, robotics, and "physical computing." A while ago I discovered a microcontroller platform called Arduino , and finally decided to try it out! I ordered a kit from the Maker Shed, their Advanced Arduino Starter Kit , and have been trying a few simple things. The kit contains a book, Making Things Talk by Tom Igoe, which contains a lot of projects that demonstrate how systems of electronics communicate. I've built a rudimentary version of the first project, called Monski Pong, using the parts from the kit. The microcontroller acts as a joystick that controls a game of Pong on the computer. From Arduino Projects The book actually calls for two flex resistors that get sewn into a plush monkey, but the kit didn't come with those parts. Actually, the kit didn't come with parts to complete any of the projects in the book. It's a little strange, but this kit wasn't really designed as a step-b...

Once again, I've neglected posting for a while, but I've certainly been busy. The end of the spring semester was hectic as usual, but I feel pretty good about my performance. I was able to scrape decent grades in 4 classes, but unfortunately I couldn't keep up in my probability class and failed it. That seems to be the norm when I take math classes; so far, I've had to take every college math class twice in order to pass. It's not great, but I'll manage. In fact, that probability class is not required for my Computer Science major, only the Applied Math minor I'm going to try and scrape out. After the end of the spring semester, I took some time to visit with family and friends. I wasn't able to find an internship immediately, but that's not such a bad thing. I think I should try to enjoy what should be my last summer before I enter the workforce full time. After a couple weeks of relaxing, I started back at school for summer classes. I initially...

Alright, it's been a while since I've posted, but you can be sure I've been busy! School and my new workout regimen have been going pretty well. I've been falling short of perfect in both arenas, but I'm maintaining a good pace on both. Over spring break last month, I had my good buddy William Holliday visit from North Carolina. I met William when we were both in Iraq, and it was great to see him again and show him around my beloved home state. I still have to figure out when I'm going to visit him. Last weekend I had Army drill down at Ft. Carson. We stayed down at a little corner called Camp Red Devil, far from main post, which was a first for me. Our living arrangements were shacks covered in sheet metal, with cots to sleep in. Once you get past that little annoyance, though, it was a fun, productive weekend. I got to practice some of my radio skills for a change. We set up several radios, an OE-254 antenna, and tried to set up a retransmission site. I ha...

It's been over a month since my last update, so I suppose it's time. We're about half-way through the semester at school, and I'm staying afloat for the most part. I do need to spend more time concentrating on my probability class, but everything else seems to be going well. I've been pushing harder on my physical fitness in the last couple of weeks; I'm actually getting to the gym, and I'm spending some quality time while I'm there. I've hired a personal trainer, and she's been helping to get me in the weight room. On my own, I've been focusing on improving my cardiovascular fitness and endurance while running, as well as trying to burn off a few pounds. When I got home last June, I was just below my Army-mandated maximum weight, but I've gained about 20 lbs. since then. In other news, our friend Chris is having serious medical issues. He's been in and out of the hospital in the past few weeks. He's going through some pretty ser...

I've made it through the first week of this spring semester, and I'm no worse for the wear. I'm really enjoying my classes so far. I'm taking the second semester of Humanities for Engineers, which is going to be divided into two "landscapes" for the semester. For the first part, we'll be covering some of the classics: the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Aneid. That should be interesting. The math class I'm taking is probability. The professor's accent is very thick Asian, but he's a great teacher, and I think I'll enjoy the class. I have three computer science courses. The class on game programming will be much less pure entertainment than it sounds like; it's focused on designing and prototyping educational games. We're using a program called AgentSheets to do our games, and it's pretty awful to install and limited in it's uses. However, it is good for getting something working quickly, and it's simple enough that anyone ca...