"... the terrorists have chosen the weapon of fear."
Oh really Georgy boy - I guess you would expect people who chose the weapon of fear to be called the weapon of fear choosers which is why you felt that you should explain this to America.
I'm sure there were plenty of other great lines but this is the one I caught while listening for 3 minutes. Feel free to post your favorite in the comments (best if done before Wednesday night when the Daily Show will probably grab all the good ones).
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Class and Such
Well I'm tired and it is midnight and I've been having trouble getting up in the morning so seems like a good time to blog rather than sleep...
Taking a step back in time:
Susanna moved out a while ago. I would imagine that everyone reading this already knows so I won't go into further detail here.
My parents came out to visit. So them, my brother and I headed up to SB wine country and then up the central coast to Hurst Castle. Had a good time tasting/drinking some wine. The central coast was very cool looking - a bit different coast than further down here and bigger waves. Hurst Castle is awesome - I need to become an obscenely rich evil old man so I can build a castle of my own. Now of course if I don't ended up with quite as much money I can always just add in more eccentricity to be remembered just as well. I think the combination of wealth and eccentricity is kind of a root mean square thing for how well you will be remembered. If one is somewhat larger than the other then it will be the dominant factor - so if one is significantly larger than the other the key is to increase the smaller one and you can significantly improve how well you will be remembered. Like RMS is a good example of someone who is plenty crazy (notice poor people are crazy, rich people are eccentric) but would need quite a bit more money to be really remembered (and maybe if he had bothered to write an operating system - well, other than emacs). Hurst was a bit heavy on the money but had a good bit of eccentricity to go with it. Actually the organizational behavior textbook says that at work you want your perceived competence to equal your perceived eccentricity. If your eccentricity is too high compared to competence then people won't want to put up with you but if your perceived competence is high and perceived eccentricity is low then you are not adding as much creativity and innovation as you could and not challenging the status quo enough. Not that related to what I was saying but thought I'd throw it in there.
Speaking of class, I'm taking two classes at Pepperdine this trimester, organizational behavior and accounting. Accounting is pretty dry so far. If something goes on the left then the same amount has to go on the right - now you know about 90% of what I have learned in that class. One thing we learned about is how to handle accounting with preferred stock which is something I had never heard of - for those who haven't either - it's stock you buy which is actually more like a bond - there is a percentage associated with it which is what the company says it will pay you in dividends, but they are not actually obliged to pay the dividends - although in most cases they have to pay you the dividend before they can give dividends to common stock owners. Not that preferred stock is that interesting but I was surprised that I had never heard of it before. We have another week or two of financial accounting and then we move on to managerial accounting which is supposed to be less dry.
Organizational behavior is going well (well at least I think it is - we have not done anything that is graded yet). It involves a lot of talking to people and discussing stuff in groups. Sometimes it kind of reminds me of high school and middle school but I do think it is good for me since it has been a while since I had to speak in front of a group or think about how something might make someone feel. I'm kind of concerned about this class since most of the grading is based on writing. Also we are going to be fairly far into the class before we get any feedback about how we are doing.
Over the last weekend I went to the personal development workshop associated with the organizational behavior class. Mostly I think it was just a good chance to get to know the other people in the class who I'll probably be working with over the next two years - kind of like college orientation type stuff. Some of the activities were supposed to teach us about ourselves - the main thing I got out of that was comparing myself to people who are not MIT students or electrical engineers. I realized that I'm a serious nerd - not necessarily in a bad way - but at MIT while you are clearly a big nerd just by being there, you tend to not realize it as much since everyone is. Unfortunately MIT came up a few times and a few of the activities required some math ability so now others have built up a rather high expectation for my math ability which I am trying to tone down now (not that I cannot live up to it but it is nice to not have the pressure and I would rather not have it completely define me in their minds). Overall the weekend was fairly fun since it is a fun group of people. (Wow that last sentence was almost a Bush statement - we are going to have fun because we are fun havers).
At work I'm working on a test chip - this should not be a surprise since other than the summer after my junior year when I was actually fixing a product that was shipping, all I have done at Teradyne is work on test chips - not a bad thing since it means my work is more on the research side but I do find it kind of funny. But this one is definitely going to be used in a product chip - really - definitely - unlike the last two which were very likely going to be used in a product chip. This chip is another high speed digital (note that digital means the signals are square waves but since it is such high speeds and requires such accuracy that it is considered analog work) driver/receiver. I'm working on some timing stuff and the individual cells I have been working on are fairly interesting. I've also been learning about modeling jitter which is quite complex because it combines modeling noise (fairly difficult on its own) and combining it with timing. It also looks like I will be doing the integration for the chip which is kind of cool since in some (small) sense the person in charge of integration is in charge of the chip. (Integration as in putting together the cells at the top level - not as in adding up an infinite number of infinitely small segments).
Actually, speaking of test chips I was reading through EDN - a free magazine about EE - and National Semiconductor had an ad/article discussing differential amplifiers for driving analog to digital converters from DC to 500 MHz (and mentioned that demand for them will be increasing in the near future) - I thought that was kind of cool - if you do not know why I would find that cool I have a mater's thesis for you to read.
Taking a step back in time:
Susanna moved out a while ago. I would imagine that everyone reading this already knows so I won't go into further detail here.
My parents came out to visit. So them, my brother and I headed up to SB wine country and then up the central coast to Hurst Castle. Had a good time tasting/drinking some wine. The central coast was very cool looking - a bit different coast than further down here and bigger waves. Hurst Castle is awesome - I need to become an obscenely rich evil old man so I can build a castle of my own. Now of course if I don't ended up with quite as much money I can always just add in more eccentricity to be remembered just as well. I think the combination of wealth and eccentricity is kind of a root mean square thing for how well you will be remembered. If one is somewhat larger than the other then it will be the dominant factor - so if one is significantly larger than the other the key is to increase the smaller one and you can significantly improve how well you will be remembered. Like RMS is a good example of someone who is plenty crazy (notice poor people are crazy, rich people are eccentric) but would need quite a bit more money to be really remembered (and maybe if he had bothered to write an operating system - well, other than emacs). Hurst was a bit heavy on the money but had a good bit of eccentricity to go with it. Actually the organizational behavior textbook says that at work you want your perceived competence to equal your perceived eccentricity. If your eccentricity is too high compared to competence then people won't want to put up with you but if your perceived competence is high and perceived eccentricity is low then you are not adding as much creativity and innovation as you could and not challenging the status quo enough. Not that related to what I was saying but thought I'd throw it in there.
Speaking of class, I'm taking two classes at Pepperdine this trimester, organizational behavior and accounting. Accounting is pretty dry so far. If something goes on the left then the same amount has to go on the right - now you know about 90% of what I have learned in that class. One thing we learned about is how to handle accounting with preferred stock which is something I had never heard of - for those who haven't either - it's stock you buy which is actually more like a bond - there is a percentage associated with it which is what the company says it will pay you in dividends, but they are not actually obliged to pay the dividends - although in most cases they have to pay you the dividend before they can give dividends to common stock owners. Not that preferred stock is that interesting but I was surprised that I had never heard of it before. We have another week or two of financial accounting and then we move on to managerial accounting which is supposed to be less dry.
Organizational behavior is going well (well at least I think it is - we have not done anything that is graded yet). It involves a lot of talking to people and discussing stuff in groups. Sometimes it kind of reminds me of high school and middle school but I do think it is good for me since it has been a while since I had to speak in front of a group or think about how something might make someone feel. I'm kind of concerned about this class since most of the grading is based on writing. Also we are going to be fairly far into the class before we get any feedback about how we are doing.
Over the last weekend I went to the personal development workshop associated with the organizational behavior class. Mostly I think it was just a good chance to get to know the other people in the class who I'll probably be working with over the next two years - kind of like college orientation type stuff. Some of the activities were supposed to teach us about ourselves - the main thing I got out of that was comparing myself to people who are not MIT students or electrical engineers. I realized that I'm a serious nerd - not necessarily in a bad way - but at MIT while you are clearly a big nerd just by being there, you tend to not realize it as much since everyone is. Unfortunately MIT came up a few times and a few of the activities required some math ability so now others have built up a rather high expectation for my math ability which I am trying to tone down now (not that I cannot live up to it but it is nice to not have the pressure and I would rather not have it completely define me in their minds). Overall the weekend was fairly fun since it is a fun group of people. (Wow that last sentence was almost a Bush statement - we are going to have fun because we are fun havers).
At work I'm working on a test chip - this should not be a surprise since other than the summer after my junior year when I was actually fixing a product that was shipping, all I have done at Teradyne is work on test chips - not a bad thing since it means my work is more on the research side but I do find it kind of funny. But this one is definitely going to be used in a product chip - really - definitely - unlike the last two which were very likely going to be used in a product chip. This chip is another high speed digital (note that digital means the signals are square waves but since it is such high speeds and requires such accuracy that it is considered analog work) driver/receiver. I'm working on some timing stuff and the individual cells I have been working on are fairly interesting. I've also been learning about modeling jitter which is quite complex because it combines modeling noise (fairly difficult on its own) and combining it with timing. It also looks like I will be doing the integration for the chip which is kind of cool since in some (small) sense the person in charge of integration is in charge of the chip. (Integration as in putting together the cells at the top level - not as in adding up an infinite number of infinitely small segments).
Actually, speaking of test chips I was reading through EDN - a free magazine about EE - and National Semiconductor had an ad/article discussing differential amplifiers for driving analog to digital converters from DC to 500 MHz (and mentioned that demand for them will be increasing in the near future) - I thought that was kind of cool - if you do not know why I would find that cool I have a mater's thesis for you to read.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
On It's Side Overturned Vehicle Semi All Lanes Blocked
101 South at Johnson Dr Traffic Collision - No Injuries 7:56 AM
Thomas Guide Map Coordinates: Page 492, Grid 7F
On It;s Side 7:56 AM
Overturned Vehicle 7:56 AM
Semi 7:56 AM
Per Citz-All Lanes Blocked 7:58 AM
Message/Item Delivered CO Fire 7:58 AM
Did not Overturned on a Vehicle 8:03 AM
Message/Item Delivered Mccartys--Access Johnson-Message/Item Delivered Mccartys 8:03 AM
Message/Item Delivered Caltrans 8:03 AM
Message/Item Delivered Code 20 8:04 AM
Long Term Closure--Advise L1 and Issue Code 20 8:04 AM
Message/Item Delivered Entac 0 Fcr Musser 8:06 AM
Message/Item Delivered Caltrans-Take Vehicles off at Vic 8:06 AM
Have Caltrans Take Vehicles off at Victoria 8:06 AM
Sgt V Will Advise Lt 8:06 AM
S6 Advise Accident (Property Damage) But Continue Fire Department--Message/Item Delivered 8:08 AM
Will Have Tow Truck Required Go Up Wrong Way--Message/Item Delivered Mccartys 8:08 AM
Also Message/Item Delivered Sgt V Regarding Code 20 for Ofc Reid 8:09 AM
Message/Item Delivered Vpd, Reference Traffic Exiting at Victoria 8:11 AM
Vpd Sending Units for Traffic Control to Victoria 8:13 AM
Caltrans En Route ; Will Get Hard Closure ASAP 8:14 AM
Message/Item Delivered Admn Ofc 8:15 AM
Message/Item Delivered Oxpd 8:15 AM
Message/Item Delivered Caltrans for Absorbent-Per Caltrans Sign Board at Calif Activated 8:17 AM
S6--Roll Caltrans with Absorbant--Sm Desil Spill Contained on Right Shoulder 8:17 AM
Per Sgt V--Message/Item Delivered L1 and Message Left for 31-C 8:17 AM
Where is Driver of Merz Going to Be, His Daughter is on the Phone and Would Like to Responding 0nd from Sba to Get Him? 8:18 AM
***-Vehicle Turning Wrong Way on Vic On Ramp to South 101 *** 8:20 AM
3 a--M Benz Sl500 8:21 AM
2 Trls Loaded with Cardboard Boxes-Need Caltrans for Cleanup and Supervisor--Message/Item Delivered Caltrans 8:22 AM
Cars Going Both Directions on the Onramp at South Victoria 8:25 AM
ETA from Mccartys--on Hold 8:28 AM
Mccartys Will Recall 8:30 AM
P 8:31 AM
Mccartys is There Near Victoria Trying to Get Thru-Can They Get Escort 8:33 AM
Lt Advise Notify Chief 8:36 AM
S6--ETA for Caltrans--Caltrans 97--Supervisor is Stuck in Trf 8:53 AM
Per Citz-Vehicle Are Still Getting on Freeway-South 101 at Telephone 9:00 AM
S6--Opened 1 Lane-Only Clearing Trf off Freeway No Opening of Freeway 9:05 AM
Per Carlsons-Driver of Mbz Will Call His Daughter 9:09 AM
Recieving Complaints, of Traffic Backed Up now East 126 9:28 AM
Vic to Johnson--No 24 Pass Bus 9:39 AM
Per S6 Possible Esitmation for Opening-20 Minutes 10:44 AM
Message/Item Delivered Vpd 11:34 AM
Rdway Open--Also Advise Vpd 11:34 AM
Info-Chief Lund-Rcvd Info and Relayed Info-Reference Line 41 11:41 AM
Message/Item Delivered Vso 11:41 AM
Message/Item Delivered Oxpd/ref Opening 11:41 AM
Message/Item Delivered Code20 11:43 AM
Mccartys Request Unit for Trf Control at Scene 12:28 PM
Want Unit at John Will Be Bringing in Another Trailer and Need Help Removing Stuff 12:31 PM
CHP Unit Enroute
What does all that mean?
It means I got to take a 2 hour driving tour through Ventura and Oxnard this morning.
GARRR!
Thomas Guide Map Coordinates: Page 492, Grid 7F
On It;s Side 7:56 AM
Overturned Vehicle 7:56 AM
Semi 7:56 AM
Per Citz-All Lanes Blocked 7:58 AM
Message/Item Delivered CO Fire 7:58 AM
Did not Overturned on a Vehicle 8:03 AM
Message/Item Delivered Mccartys--Access Johnson-Message/Item Delivered Mccartys 8:03 AM
Message/Item Delivered Caltrans 8:03 AM
Message/Item Delivered Code 20 8:04 AM
Long Term Closure--Advise L1 and Issue Code 20 8:04 AM
Message/Item Delivered Entac 0 Fcr Musser 8:06 AM
Message/Item Delivered Caltrans-Take Vehicles off at Vic 8:06 AM
Have Caltrans Take Vehicles off at Victoria 8:06 AM
Sgt V Will Advise Lt 8:06 AM
S6 Advise Accident (Property Damage) But Continue Fire Department--Message/Item Delivered 8:08 AM
Will Have Tow Truck Required Go Up Wrong Way--Message/Item Delivered Mccartys 8:08 AM
Also Message/Item Delivered Sgt V Regarding Code 20 for Ofc Reid 8:09 AM
Message/Item Delivered Vpd, Reference Traffic Exiting at Victoria 8:11 AM
Vpd Sending Units for Traffic Control to Victoria 8:13 AM
Caltrans En Route ; Will Get Hard Closure ASAP 8:14 AM
Message/Item Delivered Admn Ofc 8:15 AM
Message/Item Delivered Oxpd 8:15 AM
Message/Item Delivered Caltrans for Absorbent-Per Caltrans Sign Board at Calif Activated 8:17 AM
S6--Roll Caltrans with Absorbant--Sm Desil Spill Contained on Right Shoulder 8:17 AM
Per Sgt V--Message/Item Delivered L1 and Message Left for 31-C 8:17 AM
Where is Driver of Merz Going to Be, His Daughter is on the Phone and Would Like to Responding 0nd from Sba to Get Him? 8:18 AM
***-Vehicle Turning Wrong Way on Vic On Ramp to South 101 *** 8:20 AM
3 a--M Benz Sl500 8:21 AM
2 Trls Loaded with Cardboard Boxes-Need Caltrans for Cleanup and Supervisor--Message/Item Delivered Caltrans 8:22 AM
Cars Going Both Directions on the Onramp at South Victoria 8:25 AM
ETA from Mccartys--on Hold 8:28 AM
Mccartys Will Recall 8:30 AM
P 8:31 AM
Mccartys is There Near Victoria Trying to Get Thru-Can They Get Escort 8:33 AM
Lt Advise Notify Chief 8:36 AM
S6--ETA for Caltrans--Caltrans 97--Supervisor is Stuck in Trf 8:53 AM
Per Citz-Vehicle Are Still Getting on Freeway-South 101 at Telephone 9:00 AM
S6--Opened 1 Lane-Only Clearing Trf off Freeway No Opening of Freeway 9:05 AM
Per Carlsons-Driver of Mbz Will Call His Daughter 9:09 AM
Recieving Complaints, of Traffic Backed Up now East 126 9:28 AM
Vic to Johnson--No 24 Pass Bus 9:39 AM
Per S6 Possible Esitmation for Opening-20 Minutes 10:44 AM
Message/Item Delivered Vpd 11:34 AM
Rdway Open--Also Advise Vpd 11:34 AM
Info-Chief Lund-Rcvd Info and Relayed Info-Reference Line 41 11:41 AM
Message/Item Delivered Vso 11:41 AM
Message/Item Delivered Oxpd/ref Opening 11:41 AM
Message/Item Delivered Code20 11:43 AM
Mccartys Request Unit for Trf Control at Scene 12:28 PM
Want Unit at John Will Be Bringing in Another Trailer and Need Help Removing Stuff 12:31 PM
CHP Unit Enroute
What does all that mean?
It means I got to take a 2 hour driving tour through Ventura and Oxnard this morning.
GARRR!
Monday, January 23, 2006
6.101 Spring 2005 HKN Evaluation
TA D. Signoff (5.6/7.0, 9 responses) was universally praised for his assistance in lab. He was considered dedicated and extremely knowledgable.
Well that's a whole lot better than expected. I thought it would read more like:
TA D. Signoff (3.0/7.0, 9 responses) was praised for keeping lab open long hours but he would often show frustration when asked questions and his explanations further confused students.
Well that's a whole lot better than expected. I thought it would read more like:
TA D. Signoff (3.0/7.0, 9 responses) was praised for keeping lab open long hours but he would often show frustration when asked questions and his explanations further confused students.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Monday, January 16, 2006
Oh Peter
Do you listen to yourself when you talk?
I drift in and out.
Hmm - maybe one of these days I'll actually post about seeing my family or about being single or about classes starting rather than just quoting the family guy episode I'm watching.
I drift in and out.
Hmm - maybe one of these days I'll actually post about seeing my family or about being single or about classes starting rather than just quoting the family guy episode I'm watching.
Friday, January 13, 2006
Thursday, January 12, 2006
So that is why cell phones have big color screens
I used to think the only reasons for cell phones to have big color screens was to get people to go buy backgrounds online and to drain the battery faster. But now I realize it is actually to add a flashlight feature to the phone. So when you get home at night and your entire block does not have electricity you are all set with a flashlight, alarm clock, and ummmm - oh yeah and a phone. I was about to say it is too bad it does not come with a heater (my place has electric heat) but it does actually get pretty warm.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
KC
After Vegas I drove back to Carp, saw Susanna and her parents who were visiting, packed and headed off the next day to KC. Thanks to Susanna's parents for the ride to LAX.
The first few days were family filled with the holidays and birthday(s) (only really one birthday but some how another one also got thrown in there). The big gift I got this year is a digital camera so at some point here perhaps there will be some pictures showing up on this blog. I also got to meet Eric's girlfriend who kept me busy most of the trip with riddles and math puzzles. She also got me a Suduko book which I had never played before but now have trouble making myself put the book away.
Then the wedding festivities started up. Went to a theme party place for new years eve where they had BBQ, dancing and fake gambling (guess which two I participated in). Then the next day they had the wedding and everyone showed up and no one dropped any rings through any cracks in the floor so it was a success. And as Jeremy put it, the Vegas trip was clearly a success since we had fun but not so much that the wedding did not happen. Then we all headed off to the Sheriton for the reception.
That night I hung out with Ben, Rachel and Shawn and saw Rachel's place which was very nice. And I got to play Shawn's all in one arcade machine that he built which is very cool.
Overall good trip - it was very nice to see everyone.
Thanks Susanna for waiting around for my quite late flight back and driving me back to Carp from LAX.
The first few days were family filled with the holidays and birthday(s) (only really one birthday but some how another one also got thrown in there). The big gift I got this year is a digital camera so at some point here perhaps there will be some pictures showing up on this blog. I also got to meet Eric's girlfriend who kept me busy most of the trip with riddles and math puzzles. She also got me a Suduko book which I had never played before but now have trouble making myself put the book away.
Then the wedding festivities started up. Went to a theme party place for new years eve where they had BBQ, dancing and fake gambling (guess which two I participated in). Then the next day they had the wedding and everyone showed up and no one dropped any rings through any cracks in the floor so it was a success. And as Jeremy put it, the Vegas trip was clearly a success since we had fun but not so much that the wedding did not happen. Then we all headed off to the Sheriton for the reception.
That night I hung out with Ben, Rachel and Shawn and saw Rachel's place which was very nice. And I got to play Shawn's all in one arcade machine that he built which is very cool.
Overall good trip - it was very nice to see everyone.
Thanks Susanna for waiting around for my quite late flight back and driving me back to Carp from LAX.
Excess
I started off the winter break by heading to Las Vegas for John's Bachelor Party. Ben, Shawn, and John's sister's husband Jeremy all went to properly send him off to married life. To properly capture the mood of the trip I will just describe two of the meals. One of the mornings we headed to the Belagio for the buffet where we all enjoyed the wide assortment of food and we put away a reasonable amount, but kept from going crazy because we were saving room for the big meal of the day. For dinner Jeremy, who is enjoying the ever rising cost of real estate as he buys apartment buildings, took us to a steak restaurant whose name I cannot remember. As we all walked in wearing jeans and t-shirts it was clear we were the worst dressed people in the place. Our waiter who turned out to be be hilarious, an ex-circus performer, was new and we think we got the new waiter because they figured we'd just be ordering some appetizers based on our appearance. I started looking at the menu and figured I should go for a $20 steak instead of a $30 steak since someone else was paying. Then the waiter started to describe the special $175 per ounce caviar they had that night and Jeremy said we'll take two ounces. At that point I realized I should pick whatever steak my heart desired. The caviar was quite good - not sure I would ever spend $350 on two ounces, but I am glad to have been there when Jeremy did. In addition to caviar and steak we had a 22 ounce lobster tail, calamari, crab cakes, pasta and some vegetables. Jeremy was my hero for the weekend (once again proving my dad's theory that if you give someone stuff they tend to like you) so I ordered the same drink as him, vodka with olives, olive juice, and a small amount of crushed olives. Now admittedly the rest of the weekend did not quite hit that level of excess but this was the general tone.
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