Yes, Anthony Walks

Yes, Anthony Walks

So, here are some recent pictures of Anthony, he is walking now.
I try to spend whatever "free" time I have to teach him how to do signs, it's supposed to help him learn better. I've heard that the first years are very important. So, it is almost not fair to him that I have to work and study so much, I really don't want to be an absent Dad. It really sucks that there are days when only see him in the morning, when I get home he's already asleep. I want to show him stuff, I know he is very curious. He loves to play and stuff, he's particulary fascinated with the cats (he chases them all over the house) and remote controls, also I have to keep him away from the laptop, I suspect that he thinks he can write better Perl code than me, and, he may be right. But whenever he sees the computer screen, he wants to pound on the keyboard.

FAU

So, this Semester I am taking Data Comunication, Intro to VLSI, General Chemistry and Senior Seminar.
I am also auditing Structured VLSI, which is the same thing as Intro to VLSI, plus Verilog and it's a graduate course, those of you at IBM know exactly what that means.
I am doing that because my job is CAD VLSI, so everything helps.

(IBM parenthesis)
What I do, (for those of you who care to know) is that I am in a Chip Design Team, they think of the computer chip, design it, write the model in VHDL or Verilog, Verify it, Test it, Verify it again, Fabricate it, Test it some more and TADA! we have a chip for sale. My Department has made some neat stuff, like the chip for the Xbox 360 and the Blue Gene SuperComputer, I don't do any of the glamourous stuff, I work on a memory I/O controller for servers (yawn), but, if you are a geek like me, that stuff is truly fascinating. I love it.

So my Network class is good, interesting but it takes some work, a bit more than I am used to, but that's a good thing, the more I learn about this profession the more I want to learn more, I really wish I could do my Masters right after my bachelors, but I have to get on the workforce, being a student and a Dad is not fun. But the Master's is coming, I promise. (Martha, Dad, take note)

Senior Seminar is very laid back, and interesting, we just talk, we talk about ethics and computers, The Constitution of the U.S. and everything in between, the students give discussions on various topics relating to computing and society. My assigned lectures are going to be on "Computers and work" and "The Software Engineering code of Ethics" Which should be good. I guess I am supposed to have morals or something.

Chemistry is just the opposite, a lot of material, a lot of homework, labs, and a lot of freshmen, but, I was surprised, apparantly the school is getting pickier with admissions, these freshmen seem very prepared. Some know way, way more stuff than me when it comes to the physical sciences, hurt my pride a bit. But that's ok. Because I graudate December! What was that? you have 4 more years? Oops! sucks to be you!

Anyway. I really should be doing homework, which I have plenty of, I just wanted to give an update since I care about you, my constant readers, whoever you are. I know you are lurking in there, not leaving comments, but that's ok, I still love you.

Take Care

J.V.