Back a while now (Sometime in late Feb, early April) I started dating a girl from Santa Rosa...
Her name is Elisa, and I kinda like her (just a little bit though) =)
We both like exercising, and sometimes we help each other out...
Lol. Sorry, I had to post this one. It's funny cause if I claim to be strong, then I'm implying she's heavy (which she isn't), but if I claim she's light, then I have no claim to strenth (and who would want to claim that!!)... hahaha. What a fun way to workout! =)
Strength and weight aside, we have a great time together. This last weekend, (July 4th weekend) I had the pleasure of spending 4 days with Elisa and her family at their place in Tahoe, which was lots of fun. Unfortunately, I completely forgot my camera, so I don't have any pics of the trip to post... = ( fortunately, there were other cameras there, so hopefully I'll be able to get my paws on those later, but for the moment, they are memories that are only in my head. We spent some time floating around on rafts near the dock, took some bike rides around the area and even got some reading done (fractals, baby! I really should get some fiction books though).
At work, I am steadily moving closer to finishing my thesis. I have moved past the theory and have been elbow deep in bench testing various circuit and hardware. Here are some pics of the various tests that I've been workin' on...
(I need to check and make sure the picture can be posted)
This pic (above) is my test setup of an isolation circuit that I designed... and it works! =) that's always a good thing, don't you think? This little darling let's you connect with something that is "floating" 1500V above or below where you are, and not damage either side... kinda cool actually. And it accomplishes all this magic optically (Light Emitting Diodes to send the signal (LEDs) and Photo-Detector Diodes to recieve it (PDDs)).
This next circuit is my most current setup. It is kinda gettin' crowded on the bench, eh? ;)
(I need to check and make sure the picture can be posted)
This setup is allowing me to pump some power through resistors (located on the shiny heatsink in the middle) and some capacitors (inside the black box, so they don't blow up in my face). The rack on the left is a set of instrumentaiton amplifiers, and the setup on the right is the power supplies, the power amplifier, and my isolation circuit in the shiny aluminum case. This test was to find out how "well-behaved" the power supplies and amplifier really are.
I designed the cooling setup (sort of) and simulated it to make sure that I had sufficient cooling capacity for my situation. That makes some pretty pictures, so I'll show you one. This is actually using muffin fans instead of a squirel cage fan like you see in the pic above, but the same idea.
I am now nearly ready to start on the "real" data of the atual actuators and do some real experimental work. I am hoping it goes well, and definitely hoping it goes quickly, but either way, I'm sure I'll learn a lot.
So.... Who cares, right? what's "really" going on in my life besides girlfirend and work. To be honest those two things take an inordinate amount of time. Not time that I begrudge, but still... lots of time. In related news, I did upgrade to a new phone. I got one of 'em fancy phones, the Motorola "Droid." That has been fun, downloading all sorts of silly little apps like a "soundboard" of quotes from Zoolander or Charlie the Unicorn. Also, more serious apps like the Star Trek soundboard. Now, whenever some emails or texts me, I am greeted with a cool little computer beep followed by Spock saying, "Captain, incoming message." lol. gotta love Star Trek, right? Then there are the somewhat useless but fun to show off apps like Google Goggles which are very handy for identifying things that you already know that they are (it can read bar codes and occasionally gets a painting right). I'm not meaning to sound negative at all. There are some really useful apps, like the map app, which uses GPS and can get me whereever I need to go and the browser app which lets me surf the web and figure stuff out without my computer. Yeah, gadgets are good.
Garrett, you will be happy to learn that i have not increased my bench lately, but I have started do dumbell press (inclined and standard) and liftin' some hefty bells. That's what reall worker-outers call 'em... Bells. =) Didja see what I did there? I left off the "dumb," cause, well it doesn't sound as cool. Right.
Nate, you will be happy to know that I have now gone on a 22 mile bike trip (Tahoe to Squaw Valley and back). Man, you really don't realize which muslces are gonna be sore! But I wasn't feelin' too bad afterward, I definitely needed a little break though! :)
Mom, I'm trying to eat healthier, and I think to a large extent I am succeeding. I have gotten completely burnt out on Arby's... so that kinda helps in a wierd way. =)
Ash, thanks for the reminder to keep this little beauty up to date. I fully intend to, but sometimes I don't accomplish my intentions. =) thanks for the update on you blog as well, I read it and it was very nice
Just a quick aside, I had vanilla pudding tonight for dinner. I usually skip dinner, so it was just a fun treat. Don't worry, 2% milk, and sugar free pudding, so I can maintain my feminine figure. lol.
Hm..... What else to say... I guess that's pretty good for now. As always, I will try to be more consistent with my blog updates. There are times (as everyone knows) that my life just doesn't seem all that interesting to the outside world from my perspective, but I'll give you a boring post now and again, just to make sure you've had your "Gavin Fix" for the period. ;)
With that, I bid you adieu. Family and friends, I love and miss you guys. When I left, I was but a cabin boy; when I return, I will be a cabin man.
Yours very truly,
Gavin
P.s. just for fun... a little video that I captured on my camera. Don't show it to the police... hahaha I was bored (back in March sometime) and was playing with the video options on my phone. This little drive is where I often go to grab groceries, chinese, pizza and movies. (not all at the same time usually though). I really am a safe driver, I swear! lol
P.p.s. these videos take forever to upload!
