To whatever mad weather god we offended, I can assure you, all of us in Boston are very, very sorry and whatever it is we did, we won't do it again.
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Dear sensor test-
0 is not the same as 700. 0V is not even close to 5V.
Tests under the same conditions should be repeatable! GODDAMNIT.
Love and razor blades,
-Me
Dear MechE department-
Thank you for finally sending out the thesis guidelines yesterday. Bonus points for having the thesis due date be 3 days later than the Institute deadline for theses. I was able to actually sleep more than 3 hours last night because of this.
Finally feeling the love,
-Me
Dear kendo practice-
I miss you.
Sadface,
-Me
0 is not the same as 700. 0V is not even close to 5V.
Tests under the same conditions should be repeatable! GODDAMNIT.
Love and razor blades,
-Me
Dear MechE department-
Thank you for finally sending out the thesis guidelines yesterday. Bonus points for having the thesis due date be 3 days later than the Institute deadline for theses. I was able to actually sleep more than 3 hours last night because of this.
Finally feeling the love,
-Me
Dear kendo practice-
I miss you.
Sadface,
-Me
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So, one of my goals was to get some major chunk of my thesis in rough draft form by the end of the weekend.
*eyes 68-page monstrosity*
Yeeaah, 'bout that.
Five chapters in the outline. Not a single one fully written, but Chapter 1 is roughly half-done, 2 is somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3. 3 is about 1/3 done. 4 and 5 have yet to be touched. Well, actually, that's a lie, because I've got the majority of all the figures, graphs, photos, and key frames from the video data done, placed in the document, and labeled with the appropriate cross-referencing information. And my bibliography is being generated automatically as I go, which is great, because I have read far too many technical papers this weekend. Thank you, BibTeX.
How do I love thee, LaTeX, let me count the ways.
The appendices are almost done and scare the crap out of me for sheer length. At least now the majority of the page count doesn't come from them.
Chapter 4 is the evaluation and results section, in which I have to make sense of what the hell all this pretty data means. *facepalm* Oh, and I also have to spend this week calibrating a sensor, NOW WITH NEW CIRCUIT BOARD. The new one came in on, uh, Friday. So I have less than a week to calibrate, let run, observe behavior, and write about it. FUN TIMES.
What's even more fun is that I finally sorta, kinda figured out exactly what my thesis was about on Friday at a lab group meeting. I also found out that I'll be having to give presentations and demo this damn project during Sponsor Week, roughly the week prior to graduation. FUN TIMES. "Look, my Matlab script makes BLINKY LIGHTS. DAS BLINKENLIGHTS!" (Actually, "das_blinkenlights" is totally the name of one of my MATLAB functions in the appendix. I don't even care anymore.)
*eyes 68-page monstrosity*
Yeeaah, 'bout that.
Five chapters in the outline. Not a single one fully written, but Chapter 1 is roughly half-done, 2 is somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3. 3 is about 1/3 done. 4 and 5 have yet to be touched. Well, actually, that's a lie, because I've got the majority of all the figures, graphs, photos, and key frames from the video data done, placed in the document, and labeled with the appropriate cross-referencing information. And my bibliography is being generated automatically as I go, which is great, because I have read far too many technical papers this weekend. Thank you, BibTeX.
How do I love thee, LaTeX, let me count the ways.
The appendices are almost done and scare the crap out of me for sheer length. At least now the majority of the page count doesn't come from them.
Chapter 4 is the evaluation and results section, in which I have to make sense of what the hell all this pretty data means. *facepalm* Oh, and I also have to spend this week calibrating a sensor, NOW WITH NEW CIRCUIT BOARD. The new one came in on, uh, Friday. So I have less than a week to calibrate, let run, observe behavior, and write about it. FUN TIMES.
What's even more fun is that I finally sorta, kinda figured out exactly what my thesis was about on Friday at a lab group meeting. I also found out that I'll be having to give presentations and demo this damn project during Sponsor Week, roughly the week prior to graduation. FUN TIMES. "Look, my Matlab script makes BLINKY LIGHTS. DAS BLINKENLIGHTS!" (Actually, "das_blinkenlights" is totally the name of one of my MATLAB functions in the appendix. I don't even care anymore.)
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So, a professor of mine assigned a draft (literature review) of a final paper for that class and made it due roughly 3 days before my thesis.
Me: So, I'm going to have to ask for an extension on that paper...
Him: Why?
Me: Um, my thesis is due that week.
Him: Oh god, yes. Totally.
I love understanding professors.
In other news, I have a metric fuckton of work to do and not a lot of time to do it in. And SolidWorks is, as always, being a bastard.
(I am this close to making a comm called "thesis_stabbing". Or "fucking_thesis".)
Me: So, I'm going to have to ask for an extension on that paper...
Him: Why?
Me: Um, my thesis is due that week.
Him: Oh god, yes. Totally.
I love understanding professors.
In other news, I have a metric fuckton of work to do and not a lot of time to do it in. And SolidWorks is, as always, being a bastard.
(I am this close to making a comm called "thesis_stabbing". Or "fucking_thesis".)
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There is something sad and frightening about the fact that my thesis is currently 25 pages long and I haven't actually written a single word yet.
Now if only I could figure out if I can somehow use Bernoulli's equation to derive air velocity in a large open space over a very specific thing shaped vaguely like a wing, or if I have go wrestle with Euler's equations. Which would be a pain in the ass.
Now if only I could figure out if I can somehow use Bernoulli's equation to derive air velocity in a large open space over a very specific thing shaped vaguely like a wing, or if I have go wrestle with Euler's equations. Which would be a pain in the ass.
I have less than 30 days to write my thesis! AAAAH!
*runs in circles*
And my code isn't done and SolidWorks is being a bastard and I have no idea what I'm doing! (This is actually a lie.)
*runs in more circles*
*runs in circles*
And my code isn't done and SolidWorks is being a bastard and I have no idea what I'm doing! (This is actually a lie.)
*runs in more circles*
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3 hours of sleep and then going to a full day of classes/work is getting harder and harder.
Maybe my not drinking approximately 7 pots of coffee a day is also increasing the difficulty level.
Maybe my not drinking approximately 7 pots of coffee a day is also increasing the difficulty level.
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*insert general whining about how I hate everything, how it's fucking mid-term crunch-time, how I just got guilt-tripped by the grad student I'm working with for my thesis on how I'm acting like a demotivated slacker because of the aformentioned mid-terms, how I haven't had two consecutive nights of good sleep in at least three weeks, how I don't remember when my last non-working weekend was, how I'm trying not to fail my classes, how I'm convinced I can't find a goddamn job, how I'm not working on my thesis fast enough, and how disaffected and unenthusiastic I feel about almost everything ever here*
It's a damn good thing I took the weight training PE this quarter and not, oh say, pistol.
*goes back for Round 58237 with Matlab*
It's a damn good thing I took the weight training PE this quarter and not, oh say, pistol.
*goes back for Round 58237 with Matlab*
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I really hate insomnia.
Dear Universe,
Can I please get more than 5 hours of sleep this week?
Dear Universe,
Can I please get more than 5 hours of sleep this week?
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In the Epic Battle between ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ultranos and SolidWorks, SolidWorks wins a depressing number of times.
In other non-news, I still hate SolidWorks' business practices with the burning fire of a thousand suns and they can all go suck a herd of goats.
ultranos and SolidWorks, SolidWorks wins a depressing number of times.In other non-news, I still hate SolidWorks' business practices with the burning fire of a thousand suns and they can all go suck a herd of goats.
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Yaks Shaved This Week Thus Far:
-Audacity
-DVD Decrypter
-VirtualDub
-audio ripping from video
-silkscreening
To Add to the List By Tomorrow: some other video editing program
THANKS 2.009. The list of skills I never thought I'd get/have to learn this way just keeps growing. I mean, you're a mechanical engineering design class. Hence why I'm learning audio/video processing. Silly me to expect, you know, machining.
-Audacity
-DVD Decrypter
-VirtualDub
-audio ripping from video
-silkscreening
To Add to the List By Tomorrow: some other video editing program
THANKS 2.009. The list of skills I never thought I'd get/have to learn this way just keeps growing. I mean, you're a mechanical engineering design class. Hence why I'm learning audio/video processing. Silly me to expect, you know, machining.
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I kind of just want to crawl into a hole and die. Even when I attempt to go to bed earlier, I either a) find fires I need to put out RIGHT NOW OMG, or b) my brain keeps working full throttle and my body is yelling "good god, will you shut UP already?!"
3.091 currently on my shit list for randomly coming up with a bullshit assignment due today. Since I was busy taking, oh, the make-up exam scheduled during lecture yesterday, I had no fucking clue about it. Not only that, but, really, I have enough other things clamoring for my time than a bullshit library scavenger hunt that's not even on the goddamned pset list. It can go die in a fucking fire.
2.009 will be done by Monday, come hell or high water. Most likely high water. I now know more about how to paint vinyl-covered neoprene than I ever thought I would. And apparently, this class is how I'm finally going to learn how to vid. WHO KNEW? Sure, just throw all the DVD ripping and formatting to me. Whatever.
I'm hoping I can squeeze time in today to go at least lay some chips down for 6.131. I've got all the math and planning done, and seriously just need to go into lab and build it. Else I'm screwed.
Seriously, my kingdom for a time machine.
3.091 currently on my shit list for randomly coming up with a bullshit assignment due today. Since I was busy taking, oh, the make-up exam scheduled during lecture yesterday, I had no fucking clue about it. Not only that, but, really, I have enough other things clamoring for my time than a bullshit library scavenger hunt that's not even on the goddamned pset list. It can go die in a fucking fire.
2.009 will be done by Monday, come hell or high water. Most likely high water. I now know more about how to paint vinyl-covered neoprene than I ever thought I would. And apparently, this class is how I'm finally going to learn how to vid. WHO KNEW? Sure, just throw all the DVD ripping and formatting to me. Whatever.
I'm hoping I can squeeze time in today to go at least lay some chips down for 6.131. I've got all the math and planning done, and seriously just need to go into lab and build it. Else I'm screwed.
Seriously, my kingdom for a time machine.
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Making other teams in 2.009 think you're mentally deranged because you keep slamming your wrist into the hard wooden workbench as hard as you can.
Non-Newtonian fluids for the win.
Non-Newtonian fluids for the win.
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Dear 2.009:
Your tendency to eat every available spare second is not endearing. Stop that. You're already eating away at time that needs to go to 6.131. Seriously. That shit needs to stop now. I am not failing Power Electronics Lab because YOU KEEP SCHEDULING DAY-OF MEETINGS IN THE EVENINGS.
Irritatedly,
-The Management
Dear 6.131:
The same goes for you. I'd LIKE a life. I cannot spend until midnight 5 days a week in lab. NOT HAPPENING.
Although I'm still wavering on if the "diet because I forget to eat" is actually helpful or not.
Still irritatedly,
-The Management
Everything Else:
I'm sorry. Go blame those two. Except for you 3.091. You can go sit in the corner and think about why you're trying to get me to memorize the locations of the symbols on the periodic table instead of something actually useful. And memorizing equations that WILL BE ON MY CHEAT SHEET for the quiz. Seriously. What the hell is wrong with you?
-The Management
Your tendency to eat every available spare second is not endearing. Stop that. You're already eating away at time that needs to go to 6.131. Seriously. That shit needs to stop now. I am not failing Power Electronics Lab because YOU KEEP SCHEDULING DAY-OF MEETINGS IN THE EVENINGS.
Irritatedly,
-The Management
Dear 6.131:
The same goes for you. I'd LIKE a life. I cannot spend until midnight 5 days a week in lab. NOT HAPPENING.
Although I'm still wavering on if the "diet because I forget to eat" is actually helpful or not.
Still irritatedly,
-The Management
Everything Else:
I'm sorry. Go blame those two. Except for you 3.091. You can go sit in the corner and think about why you're trying to get me to memorize the locations of the symbols on the periodic table instead of something actually useful. And memorizing equations that WILL BE ON MY CHEAT SHEET for the quiz. Seriously. What the hell is wrong with you?
-The Management
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So, the Career Fair. Couple hundred companies trying to entice students and graduates and soon-to-be-graduates to them. And vice versa. As per usual, there were a ton of software companies. Also out in full force were financial management companies and institutions (the Social Security agency? Really?). Me, I went around to sell my soul to a place that lets me build things that go ZOOM or, well, BOOM.
I printed 20 resumes and walked out with 3. This does not include some companies that just told me to put their resume into their website (like Boeing). I actually have no idea how I did. One small company took my resume, and when I talked with them, they implied I might be getting a call in a few months (I guess I'm a good fit?). Another company offered to have me call them and I could take a tour of their facility? And a rather large company I'd kinda like to work for passed me around to three of the five people there to talk to, like in a "hey, [Name]! Come talk toultranos!" HOW DO I INTERPRET THESE THINGS?
Also, after awhile, I did find the magic words for a lot of companies. Crazy EE classes (for a MechE), previous work experience, and the fact I'm not really tied to anywhere in the US right now (thanks, Mom and Dad, for telling me you're thinking of moving in a few years!) all seemed to generate different levels of interest. Um, yay?
Also, I got a giant swag bag. I think NASA gave me a rubrik's cube keychain, among other things. (Working for NASA: probably would be awesome)
Now, onto lab where I shall be until I fall over.
I printed 20 resumes and walked out with 3. This does not include some companies that just told me to put their resume into their website (like Boeing). I actually have no idea how I did. One small company took my resume, and when I talked with them, they implied I might be getting a call in a few months (I guess I'm a good fit?). Another company offered to have me call them and I could take a tour of their facility? And a rather large company I'd kinda like to work for passed me around to three of the five people there to talk to, like in a "hey, [Name]! Come talk to
ultranos!" HOW DO I INTERPRET THESE THINGS?Also, after awhile, I did find the magic words for a lot of companies. Crazy EE classes (for a MechE), previous work experience, and the fact I'm not really tied to anywhere in the US right now (thanks, Mom and Dad, for telling me you're thinking of moving in a few years!) all seemed to generate different levels of interest. Um, yay?
Also, I got a giant swag bag. I think NASA gave me a rubrik's cube keychain, among other things. (Working for NASA: probably would be awesome)
Now, onto lab where I shall be until I fall over.
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So, there's the Fall Career Fair tomorrow. Lots of companies come to campus and try to recruit people. Lots of free swag to be gotten. Except, for the first time, I actually, you know, have to actually try to get something other than free pens or finger arrows. Since I'm doing this "I'm going to graduate in the spring, NO REALLY" thing.
Er. Anyone have advice for how to deal with this stuff? I actually have to pretend I'm a responsible and worthwhile human being. I have to wear NOT JEANS AND A T-SHIRT (horrors). Actually, I'm mostly unused to attempting to sell my soul to corporate America and/or The Man.
Er. Anyone have advice for how to deal with this stuff? I actually have to pretend I'm a responsible and worthwhile human being. I have to wear NOT JEANS AND A T-SHIRT (horrors). Actually, I'm mostly unused to attempting to sell my soul to corporate America and/or The Man.
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Having Erebus in a coma (and increasingly looking like its down for the count) has had an unexpected positive side effect. It's an excuse to work from home, which is turning out really good, because I have been woken up by jackhammers outside my window at 7:30AM for the past four days.
Considering I'm working until roughly 7PM and thus don't go to bed until after 2AM? I am developing a strong loathing of jackhammers.
My parents sent me my brother's old laptop in hopes that I could fix the thing. It's only a year old but it's never worked quite right. Based off diagnostic tests last night, I'd say the fact that the hard drive keeps failing certain tests that suggest it's close to catastrophic failure might have something to do with it.
Word of advice: if you ever ship a laptop UPS, for the love of god, insure it. Since my parents wrote off this thing as a POS anyway they didn't, but UPS managed to damage the shipping box to the point where it caused cracks in the laptop case. If it had been insured, the damage would possibly have been enough for UPS to replace it. I'm not trying, since the thing's a brick anyway, but I figured this is useful information to some.
Considering I'm working until roughly 7PM and thus don't go to bed until after 2AM? I am developing a strong loathing of jackhammers.
My parents sent me my brother's old laptop in hopes that I could fix the thing. It's only a year old but it's never worked quite right. Based off diagnostic tests last night, I'd say the fact that the hard drive keeps failing certain tests that suggest it's close to catastrophic failure might have something to do with it.
Word of advice: if you ever ship a laptop UPS, for the love of god, insure it. Since my parents wrote off this thing as a POS anyway they didn't, but UPS managed to damage the shipping box to the point where it caused cracks in the laptop case. If it had been insured, the damage would possibly have been enough for UPS to replace it. I'm not trying, since the thing's a brick anyway, but I figured this is useful information to some.
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*staggers through finish line for "End of Term Death March"*
Uh, hi. If you've talked to me lately, I apologize if I've sounded like a whiny, self-centered bastard. My world has sort of collapsed into a very tiny section of reality consisting of certain parts of campus and my apartment. I just have literally not been able to see the world beyond my tiny little section of it. (Apparently, we're in Racefail Redux? And I only know how big its getting because there were TWO posts on Metafilter today? Yeah...)
In the past 7 days I have:
-written 2, +10-page papers (one hugely-technical paper, and the other on SCC)
-revised an academic research poster
-spent ~30 hours in lab on a final project (which ultimately did not work)
-written and given 1 30-minute presentation relating to the paper on SCC
-finished a homework extension
-forgotten what sleep is
-consumed at minimum 50 fl oz coffee/day
I only have one more paper (collaborative) and a presentation tomorrow, and then a final next week. Then summer. Oh god, summer. I hear during the summer, I can do things that are not school work.
Uh, hi. If you've talked to me lately, I apologize if I've sounded like a whiny, self-centered bastard. My world has sort of collapsed into a very tiny section of reality consisting of certain parts of campus and my apartment. I just have literally not been able to see the world beyond my tiny little section of it. (Apparently, we're in Racefail Redux? And I only know how big its getting because there were TWO posts on Metafilter today? Yeah...)
In the past 7 days I have:
-written 2, +10-page papers (one hugely-technical paper, and the other on SCC)
-revised an academic research poster
-spent ~30 hours in lab on a final project (which ultimately did not work)
-written and given 1 30-minute presentation relating to the paper on SCC
-finished a homework extension
-forgotten what sleep is
-consumed at minimum 50 fl oz coffee/day
I only have one more paper (collaborative) and a presentation tomorrow, and then a final next week. Then summer. Oh god, summer. I hear during the summer, I can do things that are not school work.
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This Weekend, In Summary:
Saturday
Meals Eaten: 1
Cans of Mountain Dew Voltage Consumed: 2
Mugs (15oz) of Death-Coffee: 2.5
Rage at MATLAB: Infinity
Rage at Microsoft Word: Infinity + 1
Number of Times Microsoft Word ATE MY PAPER: 2
Time at Which I Said "Fuck It" and Went to Sleep: 5AM Sunday
Sunday
Meals Eaten: 2!
Glasses of Porter Consumed: 2
Amount of Pain I Was Feeling Thereafter: None
Number of BJTs Fried: 1
Burns on Hand: 1
Number of Circuits Working When I Left Lab: 6!
Number of Circuits Not Working When I Left Lab: 1!
Number of Tanks That Go "RRRRR" When I Push the Buttons on the Labkit: 1!
Saturday
Meals Eaten: 1
Cans of Mountain Dew Voltage Consumed: 2
Mugs (15oz) of Death-Coffee: 2.5
Rage at MATLAB: Infinity
Rage at Microsoft Word: Infinity + 1
Number of Times Microsoft Word ATE MY PAPER: 2
Time at Which I Said "Fuck It" and Went to Sleep: 5AM Sunday
Sunday
Meals Eaten: 2!
Glasses of Porter Consumed: 2
Amount of Pain I Was Feeling Thereafter: None
Number of BJTs Fried: 1
Burns on Hand: 1
Number of Circuits Working When I Left Lab: 6!
Number of Circuits Not Working When I Left Lab: 1!
Number of Tanks That Go "RRRRR" When I Push the Buttons on the Labkit: 1!
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Today, in summary:
Item Get: Summer Research Funding
Number of RC Boards Nearly Fried: 1
Number of FPGA Labkits That Are Probably Worth More Than Me Destroyed: 0!
Number of Working Circuits After 5 Hours in Lab: 0 (but I know what the problem is!)
Strobe Lab: looks awesome
3 Lab Classes Next Term: too insane even for me
Practice Research Poster: covered in red ink
Feelings on the NextSeven Six Days: Oh god, oh god, I'm gonna die
Item Get: Summer Research Funding
Number of RC Boards Nearly Fried: 1
Number of FPGA Labkits That Are Probably Worth More Than Me Destroyed: 0!
Number of Working Circuits After 5 Hours in Lab: 0 (but I know what the problem is!)
Strobe Lab: looks awesome
3 Lab Classes Next Term: too insane even for me
Practice Research Poster: covered in red ink
Feelings on the Next
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