sickness, thoughts, classes

Howdy there.

Well, to cut to the chase, I am now sick with bronchitis. That is a bummer. On the upshot, it does give me a lot of time to think, which is unussual these days. So how can I update you on my current status? My room is now surrounding my bed, (about 20" on all sides) now that I've gotten all the electronics/computers from NASA to continue my thesis research, my laptop has no more (storage) room, so I'm considering re-formatting and starting over (Windows 7, hopefully), and my schedule goes from booked to rediculous. All in all, I think I'm doing well. I just need to keep my head up for about 4 more weeks to get through.

Every semester, I am struck by the psychology of classwork and finishing projects. Every semester I am very excited to sign up for x number of new classes (cool class names a must) and always arrive the first day with eager anticipation of what I will learn and be able to do when I finish. Then, about 1/3 of the way though, I get distracted by something that get's me a little behind or off track. at about 2/3 to 3/4 I become very aware of this and buckle down again, and by the end I keep my grades up (hopefully). Every semester this pattern shows itself, but to varying degrees of distraction and recourse. Thankfully, I seem to be getting better at it (distracted less, recourse more), but the pattern is still there. Very strange.

I guess I could tell you about some of the cool things I'm learning in class these days... c'mon, I know you're wondering! ;) Very well, I shall tell you then. In my electro-mechanical conversion class, I've been learning about electric motors... we've finished synchronous AC machines and DC machines, and now we're working on Induction machines... very cool stuff. Did you know that an induction motor first induces the current flowing in the rotor (the inside, turning part) and then provides the magnetic field that interacts with that current to produce a torque? The coolest part is, the magnetic field that induces the current is the very same one that the current interacts with to produce the torque! outstanding!

In my High Frequency Design Techniques class, we have been learning about clock distribution on (of course) high frequency designs... clock signals are the on and off signals that all of the other chips need to see to know when to process and when to stop, kinda like the drummer guy on the row ships, so that everyone stays synchronized. Anyway, when you try to distribute this signal at very high frequencies, the time it takes the signal to get to it's destination can be quite varied, because the speed of light is finite. think about it like if you wanted 5 cities to shoot fireworks at the same time, but you had to send out runners to tell them when to go and they would shoot the fireworks just when the runner arrived. Now make the cities various distances apart... if you had to arrange the "drop off" schedule for those runners so they arrived at almost exactly the same time, you now know the challange of clock distribution... ;) yay!

In my chaotic dynamics class, we have been learning about bifurcation. bifurcation is how a system changes its characteristics qualitatively when parameters in the system pass certain points. my prof had a good example: if a class is composed of one student, he could teach that student in his office. more than a few students would force him to teach the class in a classroom. if the class grew beyond 30 or so, he would have to find a lecture hall, if the class grew beyond 400 or so, he might have to record the lectures or broadcast them live... see how the class changes at certain points because of the number of students (28 to 29 was the same, but 30 to 31 changed dramatically in a qualitative sense)... this is leading up to why mathematical catastrophes happen and some other cool things (like hysteresis and chaos). Needless to say, I'm enjoying myself there. Below is an animation of a vector field undergoing bifurcation (Hopf).

My networking class is okay, but not very exciting. it is nice to see how the internet operates and what is happening "under the covers" but to be honest, it is a bit boring.

Lastly, I have an electromagnetic compatibility course which is all about design devices to "play nice" with each other. That is, the electric fields and magnetic fields they produce should be regulated and contained. Otherwise, wierd things can happen... for example, did you know that in an industrial setting, where many high power electric motors are operating, there may be cases where the motors are actually inducing high currents in the steel beam structures of the building because their magnetic fields are "reaching out" and pulling/pushing the currents back and forth? interesting, huh? in the same way, electronic devices can affect other electronic devices by inducing current that are unintended and making those devices fail to work... wouldn't that stink if the brand new playstation 3 you got caused the new 65" LED TV to stop working because they were electromagnetically incompatible? ;) exactly. so that is a very challenging class, and I definitely see the challenge there.

Okay, well thanks for reading this far. If you're not bored yet, maybe you should get into elec/computer engineering! fun stuff dude! I think I should probably stop here, but thanks for listening. Until next time gadget...

On why the world is flat

Hello there, noble patrons!

How do I know you're noble? 'cause you are reading this blog, of course! ;) Actually, I am interested to know who reads this thing... I hope everyone feels free to leave a comment -> free of charge! "Talk to me goose..."

Why is the world flat, you ask? I answer: because that is the only way I can wrap my head around it. Think about it, if the world were round, then we'd have people in far off distant lands that are standing at 90 degrees and even 180 degrees oriented to us! That's crazy talk! I think a more logical explanation is that we are live on a nice flat plane that allows us to teleport to different regions directly depending on which edge of the map we happen to be... of course, then we'd have to believe in teleporting, but then that seems easier to swallow then this round world nonsense anyway...

Okay, enough of that. I am doing well these days and really trying to stay alive and finish my classwork. I was very happy to recieve my first paycheck for working on my thesis, so that was really great. It's wonderful to be paid for working on fun projects! Speaking of which, I have so much to do in that arena, it's crazy. Not round world crazy, but still. Very strange to be thinking that this is the last round of classes that I can take. I think they'll kick me out if I try to come back again! :P

I hope y'all are having a great day/night/whenever you read this, cause I am very encouraged. I am encouraged for strange reasons; today when i went on my little run, I ran into a couple that was walking along the road. The girl asked if I was jogging (I was currently waiting at the light), and when I answered in the affirmative, she said that it looked like I was doing a good job (I was sweating). That in and of itself it not a very significant comment, but the idea goes a long way on its own power! ;) It made me happy! The human psyche is amazing.

Well that's all for now, sportsfans. Tune in soon for the next episode.

A poetic muse

2:08am – the muse.

Of misery and happiness, on encouragement and grief
Through mischief and adventure, when light itself grows a shadow
This is how I am.

Sadness follows the happy as rainclouds follow bright balloons
That when the laughter has subsided the cold shower can begin.
Of this flood? Think it only a bath.

Profess your ying and yang, tell me the balance is to be kept.
Light were not but for the darkness in contrast, says you.
Confused, says I.

The world in its intricacies and delicacies, it variation and pattern;
Would be a mirror to the structure that is beneath?
Yet, I speak without knowledge.

But spoke it right he, that simple is truer often;
The page with less written oft affords the clearer view.
See I this, over and over.

How to argue with him that sees true unreal but believes false reality?
His tongue is sharp, what blood his mouth contains!
He is content with his thought, without his life.

Blessing after blessing is granted, though no deserved deed.
A plan thwarted with goodness is failed though it succeed.
Rhyming wasn’t the plan.

Does the plan mean ill? Its end to darken? To who is it owned?
Yet there beauty is found, and smiles that shatter scolding.
Her eyes that pierce.

Why that I strain to miss yet aim to succeed? Can I unravel?
Constant effort to dodge paired with significant work to conquer…
Strange bedfellows all.

Finally know that conclusion dances laughing round my head,
Teasing my senses and staying near reach.
Only to be told.

*********************
by way of explanation, don't take anything too literally or figuratively. I enjoy writing about thoughts in my mind, but this is only a stream of consciousness... nothing actually fully digested. take it for what it is, a window into my mind.... ;)

My musings

Hello friends!

sorry about that... my bro was messin' with me. :P a new, REAL post to follow shortly.

Cabins, Software and Life

I think I said I'd update every week last time... that didn't work too well, did it. Hm. Well, against all odds and of course against my better judgement, I've decided that my blog needed an update even if it just so happens to be 1am. So, without further ado, here is a snapshot of what's goin' on in my life and some fun pics as well.

This pic is of my friend and co-worker Robert sitting inside of one of the shakers... we had great success with the latest "Precision-controlled shaker head", and I must say, that man deserves most of the credit! What a great showing! This week we will see how the shaker head does on some olive trees for the official demo, but things are lookin' up!

I had the opportunity to contribute to the project by modeling the electro-hydraulic/mechanical system in MATLAB and designing/implementing one of the amplifiers, which was really fun. The first, real multi-domain modeling I've done that was for a practical purpose. The amplifier was a voltage-controlled current amplifier (for those of you who care) and had tunable gains dead-band compensation built-in.

This next pic is of Ash and Nate's two cats. I am definitely a dog person, but it was a pleasure spending a few hours with these two characters! This was the only shot that really captured the drama that they were acting out, but they moved way to fast for my little camera phone to see the action, weaving in and out of the chairs! ;)



This is a pic of Garrett and Stephen (my brotha and my roommate) on our little 4x4 trek on Lassen a few weeks ago. That was really fun, and (looking down, toeing in my right foot) the first time I've been 4x4ing with the crew. Definitely a great time with guys.



Garrett and his Jeep. This picture captures their relationship well...




The cabin that we are working on bringin up to snuff up in Mill Creek. I can't say that I loved the sleeping arrangement, but I think I must be spoiled on my super-comfortable bed here in Chico.



This pic is my mom and dad and brother inside the cabin. They hauled up a dryer so that we can stay for more extended periods here. Very relaxing place, that cabin. I defnitely am planning on spending some time there.



Garrett, me, Dad and Mom in front of the Mill Creek Resort Store. This is right before dinner, so we are all excited to get some shakes/malts inside. Stephen was with us too, but he was taking the picture. (Thank you, sir).



I guess that wraps up the pics, but there are a few other portions of my life that I can tell you about here. I'll be brief, because your time is valuable and my sleep is necessary...

Work:
I am currently juggling two jobs: ENE, where I am doing various electrical/computer/mechanical engineering tasks and helping with other things in those veins, and the Navy Research Group at school, where I am trying to wrap my head around the intricacies of modern computational fluid dynamics (CFD). If all goes as planned, I will be essentially stopping both of those jobs and starting to spend all my gainful employment on thesis-related tasks for NASA/Army, which I am looking forward to.

School: At school, I am taking too many classes, but in a strange twist, have had very little homework for the first 5 weeks of the semester. This semester I have 4 classes for credit and 1 class for audit. I am taking Networking, Electro-mechanical Conversion, High Frequency Design Techniques, and Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC). I'm auditing a math class called Intro to Chaotic, Dynamical Systems, which is really interesting, but I'm glad that I am not being graded there... I like the challenge, but grading can sometimes interfere with the sheer enjoyment of the subject matter. I'm happy that these classes have the content that they do, but I wish I had more time to delve into them and work on some project related to them so that I could really absorb the material fully.

Play:
I have been trying to work out by running and lifting weights and have finally (as of these last 10 days or so) been successful. Not enough basketball, but I am working on shedding a few pounds to get back to where I can really enjoy the running there. Not a crazy amount of movies, but a few good ones (notably, "Fist full of dollars" with Clint Eastwood).

Thought:
Why is it I can't dance... I have been thinking about this because I went to an Indian dance festival recently and had a really good time hanging out and dancing. Now, just to be clear, I am aware of the fact that I can't dance well, but there was some video shot by others so I could actually observe myself... wow... I am terrible! :( But, I keep telling myself, "you just need to practice"... Idunno, still pondering that one.

Tech:
I have known about a program called COMSOL for a while, but have not thought about it's "place" in the world of simulation until recently when I was thinking through the relationship that MATLAB and Solidworks have to each other. I have posted before about the wonderful symbol tool that Mathematica can be, and the wonderful simulation tool that MATLAB can be. This summer I learned what a great platform it is for code generation and also for rapid prototyping. Solidworks has long been my favorite environment for generating 3D geometry and such for mechanical engineering problems, and it just keeps getting better, but it lacks the multi-domain, coupled PDE (partial differential equation) solving abilities that COMSOL can provide. MATLAB with Simulink allows multi-domain solving with a very nice block diagram editor, but cannot really deal with the 3D geometry, collisions, and especially the PDE side of things (As I understand it, Simulink is concerned with ODEs). Anyway, COMSOL find a place right in between these two packages and is useful for interfacing with both of them bi-directionally. I have no idea how much this costs, but it would be great to get a copy to play with.

Well, I guess I better call it a day. Maybe if I posted more often, these posts wouldn't get so long! Oh well, I hope that YOU have a great day!

Back in the Saddle

It is that time again: the weather is hot, school's back in and I am once again in a brand new house! Yes, I am back from the NASA/Army internship in Mountain View and plugging away at a brand new set of classes.

It is strange to think that this might be the last semester that I am actually attending lectures, but that is the way life goes, I suppose; old seasons bend to the will of the new. I thought it would be fun to post a few pics and videos of things I didn't get up while I was in Santa Cruz, so here is a quick recap of a few things that happened that I didn't post about. By the way, I have been aiming to make one post per week, but the last month or so (and especially the last two weeks) at work were killers!

Here is a random selection of where I am now, a few things that happened since my last post, and some cool shots of NASA that I hadn't posted yet.

First off, this is the new digs... I am happy to be riding the Steed once again, my favorite truck!


Next up, my mafia-born nephew Zach-Attack. Okay, just Zach, but all this little hombre needs is one of those hats that the dudes with the tommy-guns had... he was a little stand-offish the first few days, but he'll give me a smile now. What a cute little gangster! ;)



This is a pic of how I took over one of the rooms in the house with Sharon and Scott. They were kind enough to let me spread out my computer stuff and "dig-in". This was so helpful in getting work done at home... Thanks guys!



Y'know how sometimes people ask you to solve silly puzzles and mind teasers? Well, normally I just shrug these buggers off and say, "That's okay, you can solve a meaningless puzzle..." but this particular morning, I was victorious! :) This task was to figure out a way to use these three knives to form a support structure that can span the cups, even though any single knife cannot span a single spacing...



How did I do it? Okay, I'll let you in on the secret... Just don't tell anyone I told you!





I didn't get a chance to run/exercise nearly as much as I was hoping to this summer, but I did go for a run a few times a week. Occasionally my cousin Scott would join me. This is my last run. Scott told me that this one was for "old time's sake"... meaning, I suppose that as time goes on we ought to run more often... =)

A few weeks before I came back, Nate and Ash came down and visited for the weekend. It was really cool to have them hang out and we did a few activities as well. We went kayaking in Elkhorn Slew, which was really fun (Scott was attacked by an otter! [yes, he's fine]).

Nate's Birthday was on Friday, and so we celebrated it on Saturday (they came up on Saturday). Cool cake huh? Yeah, that right... I picked it out myself. Happy B-day Nate!

From time to time, when we were car-pooling, I would need to drive by this spot on base to pick up Scott from his office. Occasionally the doors were open and you could see how large everything really is... This is the world largest wind tunnel (80 feet tall, 120 feet wide) and it can pull air through the test section at 100 knots! I think I posted something about the intake for this puppy in an earlier post, it is larger than a football field!

This video is inside the model loading area beneath the test section of the 40x80 tunnel (the world second largest). The fellow talking is Bill Warmbrodt who was kind enought to give us interns a tour. The tunnel is 3 stories up...

These next three videos are just a funny task that Scott and I had to do... split logs into firewood. Normally he is a wood-splittin' fool, but this particular time (on a particularly tough log), I got him on video having a hard time getting through... pretty funny this.

Intermediate progress...

The grand finale!

Well, that's it for now. Thanks for checkin' in. I hope to post a bit more regularly from here on out, but I know I've said that before.

Work, Bonnie Doon, Downtown, Swimming

Howdy everyone! This last week was a fun, if very busy week. At work, I just finished my 2nd prototype for Dexter, and though I didn't push it quite as far as I was hoping, the model did meet all of my goals, but I kinda ran out of time to get everything I wanted into the GUI (graphical user interface). Lots of good progress and extra capabilities going into that, and I'll post some cool pics when I can.

Other than work, there were a few other goings on in my life which I thought I would share some pics of... First of all, I did little bit of house-sitting for a fellow that Scott and I carpool with. They live in a little area called Bonnie Doon. Below is a pic of some of the road that gets me to his house. It was a magnificent drive, and hopefully this first pic can capture some of that beauty. It did add about 50 minutes to my drive, but it is a fun excursion to change up some of the monotony.



This second pic is of the house that I "sat" in. Or is that sat on... I don't know, but anyway this is a very picturesque place, and surrounded by a big redwood forest. They have a very affectionate cat named tom, and he kept me company, or maybe more accurately, I kept him company because he was definitely the master of the house. ;)



After a tough week at work, I slept in 'til about 10am and Sharon and I went on a little trek in downtown Santa Cruz. That was pretty cool because she got to point out some interesting landmarks and architectural things as well as do a bit of shopping. This pic (below) is of the Holy Cross chuch which is right next to the original Santa Cruz mission. I took some pictures of both, but the church has more interesting architecture, so I included that pic here.




Then we continued to do some shopping and did a little downtown exploring and sightseeing. Below is looking down Pacific Avenue (so named 'cause it leads to the pacific ocean). You can see the Marquee of Santa Cruz Cinema 9. I have to say that felt a little like a poodle going in and out of shops like Bunny's shoes (okay, I didn't go into Bunny's... but I dutifully stayed outside). I did follow here around in Macy's, so I think that counts. Anyhow, it was a fun trip to see what was there.





One of the shops that we needed to go into to get Sharon's watch fixed was this little watch shop that had some not-so-little furniture. I sat in a chair that was from the Land of the Giants!




So that was Saturday. That evening, we got some round table pizza (the ulti-meat, it was super good), and watched Stargate Atlantis, which I am starting to get into a little bit, but that was the end of this season. On Sunday, I went to church with Sharon and Scott, and then went to an early lunch with cousin David Lundberg and then went to his house and went for a fun hike in the San Lorenzo Valley along the San Lorenzo river. Here a few pics of that journey..




The end of the journey was at a fun swimming hole called "The Garden of Eden" which, as the name might suggest, was super relaxing and actually a very popular place considering how long the hike was to get there... (about 2.5 miles one way). So we spent some time basking in the sun and getting some swimming in, and then hiked back out. Very fun.




I guess that brings me to now, when I am just kicking back and relaxing before another week of workin' hard. Lots of fun here, but gettin' lots of work done too. Kinda missin' home and family back in Orland, but gotta keep on track. I hope everyone reading this is havin' a good one.

It been long... too long... now to summarize! ;)

Long time no talky, folks... My bad there. I found out that I can't publish some of the work photos I've been taking due to security issues (that's kinda fun, huh?), which sorta set me back in how I was going to organize the blog entries, but that is really no excuse. My public needs me, and I now understand that I must give the public what they want! So, without further ado, and with little chronological order, I give you some snapshots of my life lately!

First off, last night Scott, Sharon and I all went to a muscial production called, "I love you, you perfect... now change." Very funny production basically making fun of (and celebrating too) relationships and the whole idea of dating, love and various thing associated with them. I was laughing the whole time! ;)


Several days ago, (I think it was Thursday night actually) I went with Barry (a fellow we carpool with) and Scott to a Jazz band performance at a club called Kuumbwa Jazz (http://www.kuumbwajazz.org/index.php) I didn't know it was such a big deal, but apparently it is a big name in the small jazz club circuit, and we saw a great show from the Gillian Harwin Band... very cool stuff. The pic below is not of that band, more of just how the inside and stage look since we weren't allowed to take pics when we were there.



Ah yes, lest you think that all I do is work on groovy electronics, hob nob with NASA scientists and go to jazz and theater performances, this is my weekend job! As I mentioned, these pics are not in very good chronological order, because I don't like the way blogger uploads them and orders them and i refuse to bow to their methods! (and i'm lazy). Anyway, the pic below is showing the bark that we moved from one end of the property to the other. I didn't realize that my cousin/aunt were quite so hardcore... some people recycle cans and paper, we are litterally building a mountain out of the wood chips that were pruned from trees surrounding the house! very cool stuff, more specs a little later!





Here is another pic of the part of the hill that we were building up. you can see how many loads of chips we brought to build up the hill compared to what was there before...



This, of course is my amazingly hardworking family that I am living with... taken a few weeks ago when we working on the same thing. They make good farmers, eh? :P

This is yesterday (Saturday), and a recap on some of the things we accomplished. we are sitting on a pile of wood that Scott and I gathered from all over the property. I think I hurt my back a little 'cause I was throwing wood up to him from lower parts of the hill, and then throwing wood down to him from higher parts: lots of wood throwing going on. Then, if you look to the other side of the pic, you will see part of the pile of wood chips that we moved. This was not particularly exciting work, so we decided to keep track of statistics so we could brag about what we got done, so here ya go: it took us 61 wheel barrow loads to move the pile. each wheels barrow load took an average of 16 pitch fork scoops to fill. Every round trip with the wheel barrow averaged about 140 paces (up-hill and then down-hill). In summary, Scott scooped 976 pitch forks full of wood chips. I pushed that wheel barrow 8,540 paces in the process of moving things, and Sharon spread 366 cubic feet of wood chips! We were all pretty tired when that was done, but we felt accomplished!

So that is the update for now. I am doing well with my summer project, and last week marked the finishing of my first prototype system. My sponsor was pleased with it, and next week hopefully I can make at least one more prototype to get things really cookin'! It is definitely a lot of fun learning the intricacies of MATLAB, Simulink, xPC and the graphical user interface constructs associated with those packages. Maybe soon I'll get my blackbelt in MATLAB! ;)

Until next time, gadget!

NASA/Santa Cruz Update

Whew! one week down! Here is a small bunch of pics from your long and frequently lost brotha! (though I have to say, I thank God for my GPS... it has been a life-saver).

This pic is of my accomadations... pretty nice digs, eh? I feel quite at home amongst the shelves of books, it reminds me of my room. In that vein, I found out today that we have to move out of the chico house by July 4th, so we gotta find a new place. That was fun while it lasted, but it is always fun to change up too... Anyhow, without further ado, I give you the pics!

I arrived early Sunday morning, and Scott and Aunt Sharon let me sleep through church (at home), but after the service, we all had lunch together and after running a few errands we worked on the plane.... it was fun!

notice the cart with screws on it? that was most of my job... put a buch of screws into the wing and call it good. And to think, this fellow flies! Amazing! I think it is tradition to have peanutbutter m&m's when working on the plane because I was rationed a few handfulls for my efforts. Unfortunately, one of those handfulls fell prey to a certain marauding pilot who spotted them unattended. this next pic was taken just minutes after he confessed to such a grievous crime. See the remorse in his eyes? :P

the first couple days, I didn't have an office of my own, so I kinda tagged along with Scott to his office and lab to read and research. Pictured below is the building where the lab he works in is, taken essentially from the building where his office is.

this picture (below) is a cool shot of the big wind tunnel inlet. It is taken from the perspective of Scott's office (facing the opposite direction from the pic above). This tunnel (in the smallest part) is 120' wide by 80' tall! It is the largest in the world, but it is hard to get a feel for the scale until you are standing next to it! I thought this pic (below) showed the scale rather well. if you click on the pic, you can see there is a hockey game going on and you can see how small the people are compared to the inlet... crazy, huh? I kept chuckling thinking about some prankster quickly turning it on and sucking all of the hockey player to wall for a bit... that'd be funny. ;)

this next pic, below, is another shot of the big tunnel, but this time from behind Scott's office building.

This is the building where I work. It is an army building that specializes in rotorcraft. Location, location, location... this buidling is nicely located directly across from the research center's cafeteria... and they have good food! oh yeah! ;)

If you were to turn 90 degrees left (counter-clockwise) from the pic above, you see the pic below. this is another shot of the big tunnel, and what it looks like down the street I'm on. (doesn't that song from my fair lady spring to mind?) Also, they have some sand volleyball courts there, which I think would be a lot of fun to join in on soon... Hopefully there are some ballers too, I have been told that there are some courts on the other side of the base.

Going into the building, my office is on the 2nd floor. Here is a shot of my desk and the development hardware that I am working on. Very cool stuff.

My office mate's window looking out on our little wind tunnel (7' x 10'). One thing that is kinda cool about the office is that the windows are like 8' tall, so if you open the blinds, you can see planes coming and going. Today we had an F-18 making low speed passes testing out something or other...

thanks for catchin' up with me, I'll post some cool pics of the model and helicopter tunnel when I can, that is really cool lookin'! Please forgive my lack of posting/calling this week -> I have been on the tired side, trying to get used to my new life for the summer... once I get more in sync, I'll be a little more social.

One more thing, I really need to get some pics of the three of us and our dinner/movie setup... it is really fun spending time with family that I've never really gotten to know. What a great thing to know your cousin and aunt better, and to have a nice place to live as well! I feel very blessed!

NASA ho!

Well, I have announcement to make:

I have been honored with acceptance into a graduate internship position with NASA/Ames Research Center over the summer! ;) Below is a shot of the center...

Ames is located in Mountain View, CA and specializes in wind-tunnel related research, but they do a lot of other things there too. My job is to design and implement a data acquisition system for an experimental helicopter rotor blade. Essentially, it is a trailing-edge flap (there are two per blade) that is independently controlled and will help reduce main hub vibration loads and noise as well as possibly increase power efficiency. I am very excited about it! I leave this evening (Sat) to go and stay with my aunt Sharon and cousing Scott in Santa Cruz, which will be a lot of fun.

I really love the unknown adventure aspect of this, it is very cool. Though, I haven't really had much of a chance to philosophize to the extent I might normally because I've been working really hard on trying to finish the Blackbox project this week. Okay, when I say finish, I mean phase 1 complete at least. That (As always) is proving to be a challenge, and I am looking forward to a time when I can relax slightly more on the weekends!

Anyhow, it's late and I need to sleep (I don't know what my sleep debt is, but I know I'm in the red!!) I just wanted to give a big shout out to all my peeps (yeah, I DID use that word) and let everyone know the good news. I wish you all a merry summer!

-Sir Gavin out!

P.s. I finally walked! yay! just to comemorate commencement, I (purposely?) forgot to put on sunscreen so I look a little darker than usual. But its all good, I hear the ladies like 'em tall, dark and handsome... two out of three ain't bad!! (:-P

The Gavin (up)date

Yowdy!

Welcome back loyal fans and patient family/friends! ;) Are you ready for yet another unpredictable and (odds are) inappropriate post? That what I thought... Let's get ready to RUMBLE!!!

Alrighty, the truth of the matter is, I thought that I should post something since I have remained silent for so long. While I can't announce anything tremendously earth-shattering (yet), I do in fact lead a full life, and can share some of that with you. So here it is, the goods, the juice, the dirt that makes this humble little blog a world-wide phenomenon!

I have about 3 weeks left (2 weeks of class and then finals week) which is followed by... (And the room fell silent)... commencement! ...the part of the show where Gavin puts on a cap and gown and walks down an aisle with a whole bunch of people and... formally graduates the life of Bachelorhood (soon to be a master!). Very exciting. I wasn't orginally going to walk since I will be walking again in spring 2010, but I was convinced otherwise. That will be on the 23rd or the 24th of May.

In other news, I have begun work on my thesis (which is turning out to be very enjoyable). though I haven't spent much time on that lately (classes and other pressures have been crankin' up the intensity). it is going to be a very cool, "smart" shaker head to shake olive trees (and anything else it grabs onto). Sorry about all the parenthesis here, I guess I'm in a parenthetical mood. =) I am really enjoying grad school. It is almost like the transition from high school to college where, all of a sudden, you could study the subjects that interested you and pick your own classes, except in this case, now I know what I like and I don't have to take general ed! it's great! ;) I should really be a college recruiter or something, eh?

Well, there is my quick update, I hope all you sportsfans enjoyed! hehehe, have a great day!

A Video is worth a million words...

Current Update

Hey Y'all:

Here is the latest update from the world of Gavin:

1. I went to the embedded systems conference last tuesday... It was fun, but there were no booth babes to see! ;) oh well, next time I guess. (jk). I actually won a few prizes there, including a Blu-Ray for Dad (independence day) which was pretty cool, and a T-shirt from another place... it was really good to see what people are selling and what some of the trends in the community are. It makes me feel a little less rookie, if you know what I mean.

2. I am going crazy with classes, at the moment. I enjoyed my trip down south, but it really put the pressure on in the other classes for this last week. So much so, that I barely got any sleep during the week, and missed a final on Friday. Not my finest moment, but then you live and learn I guess.

3. I decided to switch majors to art this week also... ;) Okay, not really, but I am going to help with tutoring in one of the art classes since they are using electronics to add intelligence and flash to their projects... that should be pretty cool. My professor accused me of helping just because there are good-lookin' women in the class... I think he just disagrees with my philosphical position on "outsiders" learning high-level theory. (But it doesn't hurt to have girls in the class either) ;).

4. I (finally) got my workstation to be stable at work (it's been crashing every few hours), which makes me infinitely more productive! I actually got some video stuff done this weekend for dad and he made his first DVD on his own (phone support only). That was really good.

5. I have some working models of trees (they are currently 2-dimensional), hydraulic cylinders (not totally finished, but they have control, mechanical, and hydraulic elements), and high-level, linear, mechanical shakers. On the whole, there are many good things about what the models are telling me ("the gold speaks to us, poppet"), but I am still getting used to the way that you build models in simscape and how to be smarter/more natural with my constructions.

6. I am now without the will to continue such a long list... therefore I will end thus.

On a more personal note, I am (as always) changing faster and more dramatically than before, so that makes it hard to give a "state of the union" type of summary as to where I'm at, but I'll do my best. Not knowing the future of my journey, seeing only that path that lies in front of me, I am struck with certain anomolies. First, everything I put my hand to (in terms of projects) seems to be going really, really well, so that hints to me that I am on the right track with my training and endeavors. As evidenced by my missing the exam last week, I see that my discipline needs a bit of work, but where I would have stopped there before, now I see some solutions to the problem. I think this is an appropriate level of depth for my audience (seeing as there are those that I'm unaware of reading my blog), so I'll not expound further than this. Hopefully I'll be able to share some further details/developments in these areas next post.

Sorry, no pics this time. Maybe next time I'll have some vids or pics to put up.

Sweet new stuff

Hey y'all:

It has been a little while since I've posted, but the world does not stand still! ;) Yesterday I learned about two crazy new things: 1. FPGA soft core processor architecture/flexibility and 2. the new mechanical circuit element -> the inerter!

Okay, okay... here's the skinny: FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) is a technology that has been gaining popularity and acceptance and is being used increasingly in a lot of different applications. Essentially, it is a completely programmable digital chip that allows you to program it with whatever you want and it becomes that! Y'know how in the Transformers movie the robots could transform to be a bunch of different things? This is the digital equivalent! ;) You can quite litterally say, "computer, I would like you to be a 16 core processing powerhouse with a custom processor that I am giving you the schematics for... now how cool is that? It's like having the blueprints for a machine and then magically handing them to a device that builds itself! Here is a typical block diagram of an FPGA with an embedded processor (Nios II) and some peripherals... everything inside the box can be totally changed the next day!





I've known about these badboys for awhile, but yesterday I learned some key new things: 1) the newest versions that have come out recently have enough logic resources to implement something like 700 cores! (though there aren't enough pins to support the input and output... for 700 cores) 2) while I would have thought that since this is a digital chip, I could not use it for things like D2A (Digital to analog conversion) and A2d (Analog to digital conversion), but I was happily wrong again! There is an implementation called Sigma Delta conversion that can use 1-bit at very high speed to convert between analog and digital and back again. All else that is needed is a filter on the other end... The implication of this is staggering: Let's just say that I am making an embedded system here in 2009, and I decide that I want to make a system that has two processors cores and 4 D2As and 4 A2Ds plus some other peripherals like timers and what communications links... then in several years, I realize, "Hey, what we really need our twice as many D2As, and another type of communications link, but one of my previous comm links has become obsolete... no problem! All I have to do is reprogram the chip and my wish is granted! It's like christmas any time you want!

The second part was about the "Inerter" (Shown below)



The idea is essentially to make a mechanical equivalent to the capacitor (or inductor, depending on which analogy you use). Springs store potential energy, right? you push a spring together and it "stores" that energy to push you back later. This device "stores" kinetic energy so that if you start it moving, it wants to continue moving along that course. What is cool about this is that it was recently used in Formula 1 racing and the car that had this technology in its suspension won the race! Very cool stuff. We might be able to use this on Case Machine (The new six-wheeler machine). It also allows software to have a little more freedom in how to optimize your suspension! For example, I could model whatever vehicle we're talking about, then give Matlab a starting point and ask it to optimize given certain criteria like, "Make the road soft inside the car" and "give me good control on the ground for steering and braking". Super cool stuff. Here is a diagram of how they used it as an anti-roll (the red part in the middle of the frame).

More to come here, this is just the beginning. I'll maybe go into a little more detail on some of this if someone wants me to, but this post is getting a little long so I'll leave it at that. Catch ya later.

I'm not a nerd! Really!

Well, I've alway hated that when people call me a nerd... not that it happens so often, but it's still a pet peeve. But I have to admit this one. At least it might come across nerdy (in a math way, mind you). This last Wednesday, I purchased a couple of software packages: Matlab (http://www.matlab.com/) which I need for software simulation and control system design and Mathematica (http://www.mathematica.com/) which I am planning to use for pure idea exploration in the math domain. I have used matlab for several years now, and it is very useful for the reasons I've listed above, but I had never used Mathematica before. That was Wednesday night.

On Thursday, I began to explore the functionality, language, etc. and get a feel for how Mathematica views the world. Much to my surprise, it views the world similar to how I do! ;) this is great because I have a lot of little tasks and things that I'm thinkin' about that I would love to explore in a natural way. The matchup was so close to how I think that I had some decent looking things going on the first day. I have spent a bit of time modeling the behavior of shaker heads and even written a few programs to easily manipulate/visualize this. Mathematica can accomplish the same thing that took me 10 hours before in one line of code! It's awesome! It automatically maps controls to variables and dynamically updates the plot window.


Friday, dad asked me a question regarding the design of a new topper/hedger and I was inspired with an opportunity to put Mathematica to use in a relevant project. The main thing is that it gets hard to read when you start putting in numbers first (it's easier to leave it symbolic for understanding's sake). That is where this app really shines! (can you tell that I'm excited?) In probably about 8 lines of code, I generated the following set of equations (sorry if it's hard to read, the points is that I didn't have to generate all those complicated conditions on the right by hand!)

So after implmenting these equations and getting to know the plotting features, I generated this beatiful little visualization of the cuts being made by a rotary topper (assuming certain constants like ground speed, bar size, tooth pitch, saw speed, star speed, etc.)... each color is generated by a seperate instance of the above two equations. This plot represents about 64 equations -- more than I want to type by hand!

I finished this functionality by noon on Saturday, which I think is an outstanding learning curve for software so capable. Not braggin here, I am just really impressed with how easy this is to use! $45 well spent! ($45 is the student rate, the commercial version is thousands of dollars).

So here is the bottom line: I'm not a nerd. I just love beatiful things! ;)

Don't believe me? Listen.

People wiser than me have advised me not to write anything after 10pm... if I was wiser I would listen. Then again, they also advise that I should get some sleep; batting a thousand. I think it does present a rather theraputic/cathartic exercise for me to express myself with such a blog as this, but (as always) the question is of balance and appropriateness. So against better judgement and at the worst time possible (3am) I shall attempt the impossible: appropriate, balanced honesty in poetic form.

This is impossible because the very form of art feeds itself, beauty for beauty's sake; but then if it was so enraptured with itself in an outward way it would seem self serving, which of course is not a beautiful thing. No, I have resolved the issue: poetry is best and most honest when it speaks from a position without dependence. Allow me to rephrase that, when a man has what he wants, he can freely speak his mind. That is not to say that he has no interest in things further, only to propose that when he is currently satisfied, he can honestly babble the overflows of his heart wihtout the entangling mess of current agenda.

Outside my window, the rain reminds me of my roof, and teases my ears with the gentle sway of a breeze-tide from an ocean above. The ebb and flow of the rain remind me of time and its passing. The drops themselves slowly find their way down the window, almost longing to come in where it's warm, hands and faces glued to the glass in a subdued slide. We here, find ourselves both above and below this rain. Above, because our purposes are grander, our situation more complicated and our plight known to more than us. Below, because we see only the final milliseconds of what must be an incredible journey in the clouds, climaxing with a prolonged free-fall that automatically optimizes each drop to land with balanced attack on the cheek of an unsuspecting ponderer, not too hard, not too soft. That impact ends the journey of the drop, but sparks an idea. That idea swims long and hard past infancy, and if its strength is steady, gets promoted to thought. Thought, though hardened with experience, must also fight to outlive its usefullness. If the usefullness passes and a thought remains, it becomes a fancy. Fancies, if they are clever, can master the mind's paths to generate dreams and desires, which give rise to many more ideas, thoughts and fancies.

But why do you care? For what purpose do I articulate these notions? Because I don't know myself, and I am talking to my eyes through my hands those things that my mind would communicate with itself. You (much the pity) are a guilty by-stander. ;)

Birthdays come and go

Well, it was my birthday, but now I am in a sea of un-birthdays. I had a marvelous day, lots of well-wishers and such. I thought I should post this funny little video that I took that morning with my phone (Samsung Omnia, courtesy of Don... thanks Don). My roommates are hilarious. ;)

I should mention that the reason Stephen's joke is funny is because there was lipstick on his jug of milk in the fridge (compliments of Leanne, I think), but he forgets to say that part...

I also had to ponder things, which is of course my way of emotional/mental digestion. All the ponderances do not belong on this blog, but one that I am currently sweating (in a good way), is my master's thesis topic.

I am currently deciding between a few different ideas, but after meeting with my two advisors (Ghandakly and Word) I think I am deciding between two possibilities. I could work on a control system for the shaker head, which would be a very fun project, and would involve a lot of fun stuff, and kind of be a capstone on the work I did when I started school (10 years ago...). That combined with the fact that I just saw an Israeli presentation of their digitally controlled shaker, and I know that I can do better!! (it's tough being this competitive!)

On the other hand, I could do a control system for active suspension for a 6-wheeled vehicle. This would be really fun, because it is another project that has been a long time in development and would be really neat to see work and could make some money for the company... always a good thing. ****Comments welcome on this***** Let me know what you think... ;)

Oh no! I lost my phone!

I can't seem to find my phone, so if any of you call... I'm not ignoring you! ;) Happy late Valentines!

Why today could've been better but wasn't terrible

No picture (definitely not video) today. Today I will tell you a story, and you will listen (if you know what's good for you).

It all began when i realized that I needed to wear a particular pair of jeans because my other two pairs were dirty (that is, they needed to be washed). So I am going through my (mostly) normal monring routine... brush teeth, put on clothes, etc. I have to work at 8am at the research lab, so I need to be in the truck by 7:40am. I am on time. This makes me happy. ;)

Then I park my truck, the normal 5 blocks away so I don't have to pay for parking over by the bus stop on 5th street. Hardly anyone is walking by since it is 5 blocks (about) from school. I continue to walk along my normal pathways, cut Orange before 4th, cut across the parking lot on 3rd, etc. Finally, I am about 2 blocks from my campus, people are quite a bit more plentiful by this time, getting to their morning classes across 2nd street. Then I feel a chilling breeze near my crotchal region... not good. I tried to quickly fix the problem, but there was no way to do that discretely - it was all the way down...

"Okay, game plan Gavin." I thought to myself. I quickly dodged between two parked cars and looked aimlessly around while my fingers tried to diagnose and solve, but to no avail. Realizing that time was the big obstacle, and I needed to get this finished quickly, I looked down and went to work. The problem was that things were stuck, so it took a fair amount of pulling (and a tad bit of jumping) to get things as they ought to be (up). When I had finally succeeded in my quest to close the barn, I looked up to find several people staring as they walked by wondering why I was jumping up and down and such. Embarrasing.

Finally, once said quest was completed, I continued my walk toward work. After a little bit of adrenaline (or whatever chemical is at work) wore off, I felt a stinging pain in my left thumb. Due to the temperature, and stiffness of the zipper, I had ripped half my fingernail off! So then I decided that the bookstore would be closesest place to obtain a bandage. Fortunately, no one asked me during the day how I hurt my thumb...

The rest of the day went really well, but I decided in the back of my mind, that the new jeans I am going to buy will be button-fly! (Yes dad, you were right.) I Hope you enjoyed my little story.

Senior Project Video

This is the fina demo video for my senior project. I guess I might as well release it into the wild blue yonder of the internet... nothing to hide here. It didn't work quite the way I had designed it, but it did work according to how I predicted. 8 months on this puppy. Enjoy.

Numero Uno Posto

I like to rhyme, so with this thyme
I will use the blog for a small flog.
Take one look at my post and its ghost
will find your tale, and nail
you to the wall, all!

(nope, not my best work, but y'gotta spit what's in your mouth, eh?)