back to work

i had a few days of working on the presentation i gave today to be distracted from my daily grind. the presentation went well, and i got some good feedback on the presentation itself and my work/ideas. now................it's back to work. i have the pleasure of figuring out why my oscilloscope is not detecting the signal from my measurements. and just to make things interesting, i have no idea why i am not getting a useful reading. just noise. but, i know things are working as they should because i can capture the measurements and graph them and see i am collecting correct data. i just hope i don't spend too much time trying to figure this one out. i have useful work to get done, but i cannot move forward until i solve this issue.

p.s. - hmmmm, this doesn't come as a surprise

nothing comes to mind

i really have not had any interesting thoughts/feelings to post about the last few days. i have simply been fighting test equipment that is not cooperating and putting a presentation together for monday. i do need to get this ball rolling again after monday though if i plan on finishing this year in the position i have in mind.

i do have a VERY good quote though:

"be the change that you want to see in the world"
- mohatma gandhi

just blame it on [insert scapegoat of choice here]

lots of disturbing buzz in the media the last few weeks between the government, don imus, and the virginia tech tragedy. it would be a breath of fresh air for someone to stand up, take the blame, and accept any and all consequences for a change. it seems that our school systems should begin teaching "passing the buck 101" as a core requirement to survive in corporate america. i could not believe i watched the president reject all responsibility this past summer in a nationally televised address. enough about that though.......

work has come to a screeching halt as validation attempts are not cooperating at the moment which makes anymore empirical tests and results useless until they can be verified mathematically. i hope i can resolve the issue before too long. the timing is fine though because i need to put together a presentation for our group meeting on monday.

not quite yet

i am very anxious to get this next phase of work underway, but i am implementing some necessary changes to improve my results. i figured now was as good a time as any seeing that i was at a point where i could spare a few days making the changes. anyway, i think i have finally figured out how to go about modifying my test setup and can proceed forward tomorrow. we shall see though. the next stage of results should be VERY interesting and provide good footing to make further claims and improvements. however, i am still not at a point where i feel like i am actually learning anything or getting a phd for that matter. bring on the number crunching, complex formulas and models, and lines of code. (a may grow to regret this later)

it's been a while

i know that it's been a few days since my last post, but my mom always told me "if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all." the last few days have been very..................let's just say frustrating for lack of enough adjectives to describe the amount of headache. i got an upgraded machine and the process of installing a new os and getting the machine on the network and setup proved to be more than a nightmare. thanks to everyone that helped me. it took the experts 5 days. lets multiply that by 50 and that's how long it would have taken me by myself. anyway, i'm back up and running and can resume this final push to maximize my time before the summer. i feel a bit behind seeing that i couldn't get any work done for 4 days. i am already feeling the pressure from myself to make up the lost time. the plan is to relax tonight, clear my head, plan my way, and come in tomorrow ready to work.

climbing the mountain

the intense process has begun, and it is as tough as i expected. the one thing that keeps me going is knowing that there are so many essential skills to be learned and extremely relevant results to come out of the work. it will feel better once i am on the other side. it's all about keeping thing in perspective. not doing so can drive you insane.

i'd like to keep all of the individuals (and their families) involved in the virginia tech tragedy in all of our prayers.

the REAL journey begins

after much hand-holding and supervised guidance, i finally will begin my long-awaited mission of diving in head first into the deep end for the first time. i will learn more than i have so far, while at the same time, i will be fulfilling my own expectations of feeling a sense of accomplishment and skill sets learned on my own that i feel are more relevant in the long run. not to be forgotten, i am just getting to the part along this journey that i have been waiting for since i began my phd................really getting deep into operating systems and architectures.

tracing environment almost setup

after two days of headaches, i, INITIALLY, have my tracing software setup. it is yet to be determined whether it can provide me with information i can use, however. nonetheless, it is installed and i can play around with it and understand how to use it on monday. i just hate that it took this long.

p.s. (get comfy, i have a few articles) - last time i checked.......wrongfully accused was much better than wrongfully imprisoned for 20 plus years!!! a lot more apologies need to be given if this is the standard we are using

watch nobody be held accountable for such a clearly blatant act, i wish the "i did not clearly understand a policy that i had to SIGN indicating that i read AND UNDERSTOOD it" argument worked for everyone!!!

"and we thought we were above the law"...........guess not!!!

background reading........it just sounds fun doesn't it?

this necessary evil is just that...........................NECESSARY. i wish there was a way around it, but every researcher has to deal with this. subconsciously, i believe this is why i like being busy doing work so much because you don't have to deal with tracking down and reading what seems like every paper ever written. the good news is that i have done enough to realize my plans are fruitful and have not been explored yet (*big sigh of relief*).

now, the mission is to finalize my plan and begin executing within the next week or so. let's hope i have more success than i did today. i spent almost the entire day trying to install a software package on my linux test box. and guess what..............................it's still not done. i am stumped at this point and need some help. where's microsoft windows when you need it.

another milestone reached

this afternoon marked the accomplishment of a major goal of mine for this year: submitting my fist academic paper. i am holding off excitement until i hear back from the reviewers that my paper is accepted. however, submission is a big step in itself. i have been working on this paper for about a month now, and i feel really confident in the work i submitted. now, i am in the process of shifting focus to maximizing my progress in these last 3 months here in cambridge. i have a laundry list of possibilities of what to do next, but i think i have finally narrowed it down to one promising project that should take me the entire 3 months, or close enough. before i can get started though, i have a ton of background reading to do to ensure i am not repeating anyone else's work.

hard (and efficient) work and an unwavering focus continue to drive me through this home stretch and my degree.

missing the beginning of baseball season

i am trying to stave off the homesick feelings for another 3 months, but it is getting very difficult. my attention span for cambridge has almost run out. however, my interest in work has picked up tremendously. i am still trying to figure out how to finish my degree in a place that would bore a professional grass-growing watcher. i am open to suggestions.......

p.s. - the truth comes out. i have felt the same way all along.

listening to the silence

good friday proved to be a slow and quiet day in the office as many people left for the extended weekend already. i was able to use this quiet time to really think and reflect as well as put the finishing touches on my paper and begin to plan my next courses of action. no life-changing epiphanies to speak of, but i did enjoy the peaceful time to myself. much-needed rest is on deck for the weekend as i have not had time to truly recover from my egypt trip. the plan remains the same though.................anything less than 100% is unacceptable.

new motivation, new outlook

after some much needed reflection, i realized that i had become VERY complacent, VERY lackadaisical, VERY content, VERY pleased, and VERY lazy. in the last few days, i have noticed that i had not been using my brain at all as i struggled to understand simple concepts and evaluate simple mathematics. i now have a renewed motivation and outlook on life and school as i can only reach my goals if i eliminate all the feelings listed above. excellence and Achievement do not make house calls!!! i could not believe how lazy i had allowed myself to become and vowed to do a 180 degree turn................especially with only 3 months left before i leave for the summer and LOTS of progress to make and LOADS of work to accomplish. it's time to turn the brain back up to full power and to stretch it to the limit and change the world with my phd and socially.

i had to get that on paper first..........

now i can TRY to explain in words how AWESOME egypt was............notice..................i said TRY!!!!! it was beyond amazing. better than any history book or discovery channel program could depict. it was worth every penny and then some. i have to go again. check out the pictures on my website.