And you thought I forgot

Reviving the old blog.
Its been over a year and a half since I posted anything.  I have some great excuses for that.  Did you know I have two kids now? I am also completely finished with school.  Finally got that second piece of paper.  Following up on my last post I did technically start my last class in Jan 2014.  I failed to mention that I still needed to complete a comprehensive exam in lieu of a thesis.  I am now finally able to admit publicly that it took me two tries, so I did not graduate until Spring of 2015 (exam is offered once a semester).  The way my department runs the exam is to to create a pool of problems from every class offered in your specialty, including all those undergrad classes you had half a decade ago and are jam packed with trick questions.  They randomly pull 10 problems from this pool (and like all good engineering problems, they are usually multi part) and then you are given two hours to complete 7 of them.  My school is quite generous. This is how they manage the fact that you haven't actually taken all the classes in your specialty. The department does show a little magnanimity by allowing you to bring both a pencil AND an eraser to complete the exam.  They also allow a calculator.
So, after off of who would want to take a break?  I mean really, all that wasted time to sit quietly with your thoughts?  I've heard my thoughts and unless I am drunk they do not seem especially interesting. That means I jumped right into new major projects.  The new house is chock full of fun projects.
After we bought it in 2013 (holy cow I have been slack in posting) the first thing we did was gut the kitchen.  Full removal, including a wall.  After replacing it with new kitchen, minus the wall, we had a baby then moved in.  I am not exaggerating the brevity of that time table.  The new baby was born, the plumbers finished a few days later, the baby came home, then we moved to the new house that weekend.  A lot happened in that week.
Now that school is done I have started the next big project.  The new house came with a mostly broken swimming pool. The repair process has evolved into a full back yard remodel.  Currently the yard is completely cleared, the pool is partially repaired (with a whole bunch of extra rework to make it more functional), and the concrete forms are laid out for the new patio.
Please don't mistake my involvement in this work.  I have hired almost all of it out.
I have managed to complete some small projects. For example I did finally hang that very expensive piece of paper on the wall.

the post where I complain about nothing some more.

Ok.. so I admit that I am a little old to care so much about summer vacations but I really look forward to them. I think the reason for this is mostly because I still get them... sort of.
The temporary relief from the set of self induced stresses and deadlines and workload goes a long way to maintaining my sanity. Grad school is annoyingly time consuming, especially when you choose to drag it out for twice as long by doing it part time. In an effort to compensate I tried the summer session. I thought it would also be a good sounding board to see if I could increase the workload during the normal semesters. I can't. I did fine with the double time pace over the summer and plan to utilize future summer sessions but it was only 8 weeks long (seriously?). I know if I tried to maintain that same pace for a full semester something inside of me would burst like an over carbonated Dr. Pepper left sitting in the car in a Phoenix parking lot during the summer.
I will resume my normal pace of classes after my lavishly lengthy 26 days of no scholastic obligations. Its not much of a summer break, but its mine and I am going to relish it all the same.

In the not school parts of my: life Max is friggin' huge. He has gone from almost too small to easily hold to "holy crap, is that the same kid". He has definitely caught up on the weight charts and hitting all of his milestones in stride (well.. really more like a flail than a stride.) He has discovered the joys of making noises and babbles constantly. We have taken him to a few social events and this kid is definitely a flirt. We have been able to determine he has a thing for blonds and glasses.

Summer time

The previously mentioned light turned out to be the end of the tunnel after all. Only problem is once out of the tunnel it became apparent that this track is a series of long tunnels with very small gaps in between. In this case the gap is all of 3 weeks long. I have decided to attempt an accelerated class over the summer.
After smashing through my Lasers final with a 95% I decided to maintain my momentum and signed up for EEE 544 High Resolution Radar.
Lets see how this goes.

On the baby front (you do know I have a baby now right?) Max is growing like a new born baby. He is up to 9 lbs and we have retired our first sets of clothes. He is focusing on objects and lights and even sometimes faces. He smiles a lot now and his audio output system has developed well. He can now belt out room shaking wails and has become proficient finding the optimum angle at which to tilt his head to ensure the maximum amount of sound energy will enter your ear canal, especially during burping.

C, E, and e are visiting this weekend and it sure feels good to have them around again. I think they have lived abroad longer than they lived here now (maybe not.. not thinking to hard about he time frames) but it sure feels "normal" around here again. Its nice to have friends that you are so familiar with that even after a year apart you drop in and click like its only been a week.

Since it has been so chaotic around here I feel like there are a ton of things I meant to post but never got around to it. One of those is the saga of a bad SSD in a striped array, the week of attempted restores.. the final replacement and restore that finally went as planned, and the discovery that the images had corrupted files. Hooray for backing up corrupted files.
It is a saga I will save for another time, if I tell it at all.

Meaningless Statistics

Statistics: This blog has existed for 5 years (what?!?), there have been 124 posts resulting in an average of 2 posts per month. We all know how much statistics lie, but I am sticking with these numbers and claiming I post something every 2-3 weeks, mostly because I think about posting something that often.
More statistics reveal that my grade this semester was a B. This is a little concerning to me because I don't know if the teacher was doing a +/- system or not (the school uses it, but in practice many teachers don't). If he is than I am rather disappointed in myself, that means I didn't do very well on the final. I will probably never know since I don't get a copy of the final back, nor has he posted the final test grades, and he is on travel until mid January and is essentially incommunicado. Oh well, I am a big boy. I will just move on to the next semester... which will be a class on the lovely topic of LASERS!!!! My path to mad -scientisthood is finally bearing evil and delicious fruit (kind of like a tangelo, or a pluot).

I should be leaving for work in about 15 minutes and have yet to put on pants.. so I think I will have to cut this post short.

Grad School Blues

My teacher is an asshat wrapped in a douche bag. 5 hours of my life vanished and I still get to lose 2o points. I should have just blown the assignment off.
Why would you write an entire chapter on solving a series of equations using a specific method, then have the very first assignment be to solve those equations using a different method. A method, by the way, that is described as cumbersome and complicated in the textbook, and only explained as a method that will be assigned at the end of the chapter.
Way to force me into re-inventing the wheel in a pre-determined inferior method. Good job guy, you have successfully made me want to quit school and burn all my textbooks on top of your desk. That is a unique feat. There should be an XBOX achievement for that.

hoooray school

So I'm blogging as I watch the 3rd lecture in my return the time/money hole known as grad school. I can already tell I am going to have to work harder at getting into the mode of self motivation. Its mostly changing my mindset to realize that I am back in school and must budget time to devote to it. I forget that I need to find an additional couple hours every few days to watch lectures and that when I do.. I'm not done! There is still homework to work on, and now the I am essentially learning alone the only feedback I have that I understand what is being presented is myself. This may sound like an odd statement, but it is very useful to have someone you can sanity check with. The result is that I am spending more time than usual reviewing material trying to make sure I did not miss understand the theory and methods involved.

On unrealated topics, I was in Seattle ealier this month and have some pictures I want to post.. a lot of them. They are not very interesting.. landscapes and close ups of plants and stuff (I figured out why Seattle is called "The Emerald City"). I need to cull the herd so to speak and pick 3 or 4 of my favorites to share. They will come eventually. If you are curious what Seattle is like in early January the answer is very simple.. cold and wet. Coming from Phoenix the dreary weather was actually a refreshing change. Unfortunately, just as I was ready to go back home I did.. to find the exact same weather followed me and has decided to stick around for 2 weeks. Oh well.. such is life.
The storms where interesting.. lost half a tree in the backyard and about 30 shingles, but there have been no leaks up in the crawl space so I think everything will be alright.

A post about nothing

A few weeks ago I was officially accepted to grad school at ASU. It was a very nice 3 line acceptance email. I complained about it for almost a week before I realized how much I sounded like an old man. "Whats wrong with people today using the emails. Whats wrong with a good old fashioned letter on real paper?" Sure, its one thing sending a note to a friend but we are talking acceptance into a higherer level of education. I am excited about grad school, I guess I assumed my school would be excited too.
I was going to continue this post with a description of those damned kids and how they aren't getting off my lawn but I don't have a lawn and I'm not quite that old yet.

President Obama at Commencement Ceremony

President Barack Obama was the speaker at my Commencement last night. It was pretty awesome and in case you missed it, here it is:




There where some pretty interesting pre-ceremony entertainment.
Apparently Alice Cooper's son, Dash Cooper, goes to ASU and his band Runaway Phoenix played some songs. They where pretty good, but the real treat was Alice Cooper came out and sang "Schools Out" for the finale! It was very fitting.
This graduation thing isn't so bad after all.

Things to do today

Some of my friends like to make lists. I thought I would try that today. Here is the current status of my list.

Things to do today:
Vaccum
Wash the car
Post on the blog
Mop kitchen floor
Fold laundry
Finish college


That last one was deceivingly time consuming, difficult, and expensive.

Monthly update

I have realized this blog is only good for 1 post per month (I may have had this realization before but I don't remember it). When I started it I was really hoping for 2-3 posts a month at a minimum. Its not like I have nothing to talk about. On a weekly basis something will happen that makes me think "I should blog about this" but by the time I get home I have too many other things to procrastinate on.

The vacation was completely and totally awesome. It was a real change of pace and helped put everything into perspective. It also makes me want to be rich so I can afford the kind of personal service found on the cruise on a permanent basis. At the very least, a maid and a butler/personal assistant.
My wife posted most of the pictures on her flickr account. If you have access you should take a look. The rappelling in Puerto Vallarta made for some impressive pictures. If I get too bogged down in my homework and am looking for a distraction I may post some here.

E, e, and C came down for the superbowl. You know I like them a lot since it meant letting a known steelers fan STAY in my house. As you all know by now the Cardinals lost but I am still happy. We made it to the superbowl and the game wasn't a blow out. It was a close game that came down to the last few plays and the Cardinals showed the world that they do know how to play football. I just hope they can hold on to this team for another season or to and make some more play off appearances so that people don't call this season/team a fluke.

Little e is a pretty cool baby. He has good genes and I expect he will grow up to be a well rounded adult full of ambition, intelligence, and a slight loathing for the military-industrial complex (even though it is probably paying for his college).


I have a pretty easy semester on paper. Only 8 credits. I just wish the classes didn't take up so much of my time. One of them is an Individual Instruction project that is taking way more time than I though it would. I spend a lot of time researching material (papers and publications) for the class. I really wasn't expecting my instructor to say "go find the stuff that will teach you what you are supposed to be learning." It has led me to the opinion that our academic publishing system is flawed. There is a lot of crap papers out there. I never really agreed with institutions basing performance on works published by the faculty and the last few weeks have really strengthened that opinion.

My grades

Official Grades

Class Description Units Grade Grade Points

EEE 445 Microwaves 4.00 B+ 13.332

EEE 488 Senior Design 3.00 A+ 12.999
Laboratory I

EEE 498 Pro-Seminar 3.00 A 12.000


Semester GPA: 3.830

From the deepest darkest depth of..

the ocean.. no wait.. ermm.. THE BASEMENT! Monday I get to learn how to use a SQUID . No no, not those tentacled beasts from the cold depths of the forbidden seas, a Superconducting Quantum Interference Device. I have to wait until Monday because there was a glitch with the hydrogen last week and we are waiting for more. Now right about now some of the more nerdier readers are thinking that helium isn't that hard to obtain and shouldn't take a week. I must point out the S in SQUID. The superconductor needs liquid helium. I know the whole process will actually be pretty boring but as of right now I think it will at least be the coolest sounding tests I have ever run.

My brain is hung like a horse (still)

EEE 304 Signals and Systems II A-
EEE 335 Analog and Digital Circuits B
EEE 443 Antennas Wireless Communicatns B
MUS 347 Jazz in America A

Semester GPA: 3.4
Cumm GPA: Still hovering around the 3.2 range

Another semester DONE

Yesterday I had my last 2 finals. The semester is officially over.
This means I won't be a super mega stress ball. Just a stress ball. It also means I should be able to post more. Not now.. since I have to go to work in about 20 min, and I still need to eat breakfast but soon.
I have no idea how things turned out yet. I stopped caring about a month- month and a half ago. School burnt out my caring fuse. I went into most of my finals with a B, I have no idea if any of the finals where good enough to keep me there. Probably not, given the amount of effort I was putting in at the end there. All that I even pretend to care about is that I pass them so I can start my senior design project. Thats right. I said senior. No longer do I get to claim I will be done with school in "3 years" as I have been for the past 4 years. Now I have to say "1 year." My wife is very happy about that.

I'm turning into Cody

I now have 2 jobs. I am working as a researcher at ASU as well as my GD internship. I am doing RF material characterization and will probably be trying to verify some theories about non-destructive measurements of thin film resistors.

Kristina and I started the South Beach Diet a few weeks ago. Ok.. really Kristina started it and I am being a good supportive husband and doing it with her. My wife is a great cook but damn that was a hell of a lot of fish and vegetables. Don't be fooled by South Beach "mashed potatoes." They aren't really potatoes but pureed cauliflower.
I am happily out of the strict 2 week no carb or sugar (that includes fruit) phase. I hit my "weight goal" and skipped straight to phase 3, so now I pretend to eat like I should have been for the last 3 years. Lots of veggies, natural grains and whole wheat stuff, lowfat milks and cheeses and stuff.

Thats really all I have time to say. I am behind in my homework thanks to my first test gauntlet. I have no life anymore.

The report card

Sometimes I question if I should be posting this in the interwebs.
(That last number is the number of credits).

EEE 334	Circuits II	C+	4.00
EEE 341	Engineering Electromagnetics	A-	4.00
EEE 350	Random Signal Analysis	C+	3.00
EEE 352	Properties Electronic Material	B	4.00

As you can see.. not quite a B average.. only a 2.9
I really thought Circuits 2 was going to be a B.

The pain..

.. is going numb. Thank you Johnnie Walker.
6 tests in 4 weeks. It just isn't right.
I don't know how much more of this I can take.

Voodoo math

I know logically speaking, any positive number is larger than zero, and when applied to test scores, just about any score is, mathematically speaking, better than no score. However I cannot help but feel that if I had just decided to wander the campus and skip either of my 2 tests (back to back) today I would be better off.
This may be stemming from some innate belief that my well being is derived from my personal happiness instead of the grade I am currently receiving in school. If this is the case my subconscious needs to straighten up and get with the damn program.

Its almost over

Well, this is the last week of summer for me.
I start the new semester on Monday.
Hoorrray for:
EEE 341 - Engineering Electromagnetics
EEE 352 - Properties of Electronic Materials
EEE 350 - Random Signal Analysis
EEE 334 - Circuits II

I will also continue my internship into the semester part time.
15 credit hours (hey look, its a "light" semester) and about 12 hours a week for work. Guess who still won't be blogging much.

What a relief

I am done with finals. I had my last one yesterday.
Today I am sitting in my underwear, and planning on drinking beer all day while I work on absolutely nothing.

Unfortunately I don't think that plan will work. I have a bunch of errands to run, including going in for a urinalysis test for a new job, changing the oil on my wife's car (both of which require me to be sober as they require driving), and packing for my trip to New York (I leave tomorrow). Why can't I just enjoy my day off?

BTW.. for that new job: I got an internship with General Dynamics in Phoenix. I will be working at the Advanced Information Systems facility doing some final test procedures and requirement verification on satellites (as in for NASA).
Pretty scary isn't it?

As for the aforementioned trip, I guess it qualifies as a vacation. The wife and I are flying to Buffalo, NY for Bev and Don's second wedding. Really it is just a reception for all of Don's family that couldn't make it out to the Phoenix wedding. Its a great excuse to visit the eastern seaboard and generally get out of the desert. I am looking forward to the green scenery, cool weather, and Canadian beer. We will be visiting Niagara falls, spend a day in Canada (Toronto), and be drinking copious amounts of alcohol with fellow Irishmen (Don's family is Irish too!).
This won't be my first time east of the Mississippi or out of the country but it will be for my wife. I know she is looking forward to the culture shock.

I guess I should go put some pants on, drink some water, and go buy some oil... or maybe I will just let wal-mart do it. Its my day off.