Castro drives Florida Crazy

Castro drives Florida Crazy

The after only 48 years! Castro is in his final throes...and I am sick of it!
Don't get me wrong, it is not that I want Castro to stay in Power, of course not. But, the reaction in South Florida is so strong that I think that things are going to get messy down there, people are literally losing their mind, or at least that's what it seems from the phone calls I've been getting. I knew things were going crazy when my own mother "knows for sure" that Castro is dead.

We'll see.

Interesting Article about Wikipedia

Interesting Article about Wikipedia

Here.

Can Wikipedia conquer expertise?

Here in Rochester

Here in Rochester

So I am here in Rochester MN again. I flew in on Monday, Tuesday I went back to the good ol' Blue Zoo to do some work with my Design Team as opposed to working remotely like I have in the past 7 months. Being here with them makes a huge difference. I am glad to see a lot of other interns I met last summer are still here either as regular employees or interning again. I would like to stay here as a full timer but I still don't know if that's going to happen. I really hope so, and I think I will get an offer. Only time will tell.

J.V.

One more day at home

One more day at home

It does not feel like I am going to be gone, this morning has been a quiet day at home, a perfect day to be home and just chill. Tomorrow I am taking off for MN, I am glad that I am going back, but it sucks that I am going by myself. Things are different when I don't have my family around me.

When I am up there I wil try to concentrate on learning about my craft as much as possible. Being a student has been great. College opened up my mind to new perspectives, it changed my life, it has been a good experience, but I feel is time to become an exercising professional engineer. I want to design things, I want to be productive...and I want to get paid!!

Anyway, must go now, more later.

J.V.

Latest Anthony Pics

Latest Anthony Pics

What I've been up to

What I've been up to

Most of you have noticed the fact that I am not publishing that often anymore. The truth is that I have a new Nintendo DS, yes I know, that's for kids, but, I really like it. I've always liked Mario Bros and I have this game called Brain age that lets me exercise my brain and what not.

Anyway, when I finished up those two classes that I barely passed (God knows how I did it) I got a lot more free time. Most of the Month of July I have been working from home and taking care of Anthony in the Mornings and working on the senior Project in the afternoon, then, whatever time we have remaining I spend it with my family. Life is good. I hope that when I get a real job I get to spend time with the family like that.
To me, teaching my son how to be a decent person is very important, I only have one shot of getting it right and I don't want to screw up my son's life by not giving him the proper guidence. I don't want to be overbearing but I don't want him to be spoiled either. I want to show him everything I know about life. Does not sum up to much. But I guess here it goes:

-Self Control is key.
Got to have that self discipline. A lot of people out there want instant gratification, but things are so much sweeter when you work a little bit harder for it.

-Honesty and Honor
I would like to implement that without being too strict. I want him not to lie, cheat or steal. I would like him to be a trustworthy person.

-Education.
Go to college. Any Major. Does not matter. Do what you like. But don't worry if you don't know what you want yet. Go to school.

-Learn to question Authority.
Learn to think. Find out the reason. Question everything. Learn what it means to know something. Don't just believe something because someone told you so, find out on your own.

Ok, I think I've written enough. I have to get to work. But It's good to put my thoughts on my blog. This is what I've been doing.

Oh, another thing I wanted to mention. I have found some Computer Science and Engineering video lectures from some elite schools. I think it is awesome to see how they teach programming at MIT, I am listening to the lectures and actually following two courses, one in graduate level Computer Architecture and another first-year undergraduate introduction to Programming, the first year course is fascinating, I would be a much better programmer now If I would have taken that course my freshman year. The name of the class Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs. Anyway, here's the link to all the videos if anyone is interested.

Link to MIT's OpenCourseware, I love them with all of my heart for this. Thank you MIT.

J.V.

MINNESOTA

MINNESOTA

So I am going up to Rochester next Monday. I will be working at the IBM plant for five to six weeks. I hope my car makes the 1700 mile trip. I also hope I get to see some of my fellow bloggers and friends that live in the area.

Crazy enough, I have been busy but not that much. I am just having some sort of blogger writing block. Not surprisingly, I found this article that explains that 1% of internet users are responsible for more than 80% of the content in the user-based sites like youtube. For most people is easier to read and watch than to write and produce.

Even if it is a couple of paragraphs, it is hard to be a good blog writer. Take me for example, I meant to write about my trip to MN and my plans to see some friends up there, but instead I end up explaining my lack of publishing. Oh Well.

J.V.

YES!

YES!

I think I may have finished doing all of the programming needed for my Senior Project.
We'll see. I am extremely happy right now, I known there's a lot of testing left, but Jaime and I have solved a problem that 48 hours ago looked as if it had no solution, I may have written the program but if it wasn't for Jaime I would be still be stuck. A couple of presentations left, the final report and ED2 may be behind me. I can't believe it.

Wow, I have been on my laptop almost 16 hours straight. It is time for a break.

YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Good Job Jaime, Majid, Chris, We're not done yet, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

England earns the world's respect

England earns the world's respect

After this article was published.

Interensting video

Interensting video

And pretty funny too, it puts our existence in perspective.

The Senior Project

The Senior Project

So today I am working from home again, Babysitting Anthony and trying to get things done around here. Basically, the next milestones to get through this summer are My Senior Project and the Internship in Minnesota. I plan on going up North as soon as I am done with my school work here in FAU. I still don't know if I passed my summer classes, it is going to be close. Which stinks, I don't like doing things this way but I had no choice this summer, I HAD to go to Military Annual Training, and I HAD to take these classes now in order to graduate in the FALL.

So, a little about the project, earlier this year I set up another blog to describe the development of the project, I was really enthusiastic, this being the rite of passage for Computer, Electrical and Mechanical Engineers here at Florida Atlantic University. Things started out good enough, the first of the two course series we are tasked with a mini-project in which your group members are chosen at random, and the project is supposed to be the implementation of a simple, straight forward solution to a simple problem. We were supposed to design a gadget that could shoot water to pre-determined grid block coordinates. We were given four coordinates a week before and an extra one the day of the competition. We were told that for the final Project we could choose our Teamates as long as there was at least one member from each discipline represented (one Comp.Eng., Electrical, etc)

Our Randombly chosen group got along so well, that we decided to stay together, but, the day we were supposed to turn in the list, the teachers threw a curve ball at us, we could chose anyone, as long as no-one in the group had worked together in the first project. We were mad! The least they could have done was warn us in advance. But, we moved on.

So we formed the new group. Majid, Chris, Jaime and myself. We are building a smart car seat. The idea behind it is to prevent negligent injuries caused by parents leaving their children unattended in their car, it happens all the time, a parent is having a bad day, leaves the kid in the car, it's 80 degrees outside, withing minutes the temperature inside the car is 110, and the kid just...well, it's not pretty.

So what we have is a regular car seat with some sensors hooked up, that will text message you if it detects that the vehicle is turned off and that there's a child in the vehicle at the same time. It will send the parent a couple of warning text messages, then if nothing happens it will call the authorities.

There are a lot of details left out, but this is the basic idea. We also have added a camera and an LCD screen so that the driver can see the child without turning her head around. A feature which my wife has "encouraged" me to add. Needless to say, I already have my first customer for this car seat.

Right now we have the car seat, we have the program that can send a text message, we have the camera and screen. All we have to do is put the whole thing together. I still have to work on the software that controls all of this. But I don't think it will take me that long. I wouldn't be surprised if we finish this week, wich will be sweet since the sooner I can finish this the sooner I can head up North and the sooner I get to come back and finish this long summer.

The one thing I look forward to the most right now is getting that College Degree, that's all I want, well, that and to keep my family of course.

Anthony is being the perfect kid this morning, no fuzz, he ate his morning bottle, took a nap, woke up in a good mood and he is sitting quietly in his high chair watching Baby Eistein, I hope it stays that way.

Ok Ya'll that was my morning report. Now back to your usual programming.

J.V.

World Cup Crazinnes

World Cup Crazinnes

I have placed a bet among my friends from school, if Argentina wins the world cup, I will shave off all of my hair, and come to class wearing make up and earrings. Needless to say, I don't want them to win, in fact, I wish that Germany beats them 5-0 in the Quarter finals game coming up. If Brasil wins the World Cup, this Argentinan dude will do the same, a lot of South Americans like me are going for Brasil instead of Argentina because the Argentinans are, how should I write it? Well, they are nice people as long as you are not talking about futbol (soccer). Anyway, Just one thing I wanted to share.

J.V.

Wow!

Wow!

So, it's been a rough ride. I am still here, busy as usual, I always think of things to write in here, and when I finally get a chance to write down my thoughts, I blank out.

I have been blogging for more than a year now, I started this to describe what it was like to be an intern at IBM Rochester/MN but, it turns out, there are a lot of things I can get in trouble for disclosing, and whatever I can talk about, it is immensely boring. Then, I started placing links to interesting things that pop up in the net every once in a while, I also wrote down my thoughts about the war in Iraq, since I was there and all, but this is not a war blog, lately it has been sort of a dairy, which is something I didn't really want, I don't want to be write too much about me, because, frankly, who wants to read about someone else's personal issues? Well, I do, if it's well written, but I admit, I am not a good writer. Anyway, my point is, this blog lacks direction, and consistency, there are many directions in which this blog can go, and I am not sure which one it will take.

Option one:
This is one that I hate and like the most at the same time. The Iraq Blog. I hate this idea because I hate to think about Iraq. I really do. When I came back from there I was wresteling with a lot of demons, When I went I felt that I was supposed to go to war, that it was my duty, and that I was going there for a just cause, I came back with my own doubts indenpendant of what the media was portraying, but I felt that it was not in a position to question, I still feel the same, but I have come in terms with myself for the most part. The more I think about it the more I am sure of it. The thing is, I really want to move on with my life, I hate being stuck in a period of my life which is over for me. I don't think that as one person I can make much of a difference in the public's mind. But on the other hand, if I had the talent to be an excellent writer, if I could write a story the way Stephen King does it, I could write a hell of a war book, I feel is a shame because my war memoirs would be an interesting read at worst, howevere, I know my limits.

Option two:
The internet is a vast sea of information, I can write about a story or website that catches my attention, and start a discussion, this has happened a few times, but I don't have enough readers to start a debate, and, well, I don't have that many readers. This is like a lazy option.

Option Three:
The Dairy, I don't like this one too much, because I don't want to write about mundane things that nobody cares about.

Option Four:

The technical blog. I would like to write about my profession, Computer Engineering, explain IEEE articles, comment on new trends and stuff, but this would actually take a lot of work, plus, none of my readers (or at least the one that leave commments) are Engineers, so, who wants to know about engineering?

Option Five:
A combination of all the above.

Oh well, usually I just write whatever comes to mind whenever I sit in front of the screen, this is my usual strategy, but as this blog enters it's second year I thought it would be nice to have a goal and some organization for this blog. My personal goal from this blog is to be able to improve my writing skills, one day I will write and publish my own book, the other thing is, I like to get comments and meet other bloggers. I think is cool that I know so many bloggers that are a lot better at this than I am, I learn from all of you, and I enjoy reading. I like blogging so much it makes my wife jealous. How can you be jealous of a blog? Those of you who blog understand.

Next week

Next week

This week is going to be a bit tough, I need to get paid, since the army's E5 pay is peanuts, so I need to work some hours, besides that, I have a Midterm I am making up Tuesday, A Final Wedsnday and Thursday a Presentation on Wedsnday and a Research paper due on Friday. But after that, all I have left is my Senior Project and that's the summer. I don't know why I am not freaking out, but today I had to spend time with the family, it is my first Father's day.

Being a Dad is awesome, but it is tough, it is defenetly hard to raise a family while trying to get trough school, I don't know why I am not somewhere having a nervous breakdown or a heart attack. Instead I am sitting here quietly in my computer, with let's see...1,2...9 different windows, I am going to finish writing that research paper tonight...or else. I don't know how I am going to cram up everyday for these tests while getting work done, but it's going to happen, i swear!

Ok People, Take Care, be good to each other.

J.V.

Back for the first time

Back for the first time

After two weeks, I am back in the real world.


Too tired to write right now. It's been a long brake. I am posting a picture of my "office", all I can say that it was about 1000000000000 degrees hot, in the shade. The humidity made it feel ten times worse.

My wife bought me the new Nintendo DS lite, which is not really a wise thing. We are both addicted. Next week I have a A Midterm, Two Finals, a Presentation, and a paper due, Yet, I am not sweating it, I don't know why, I am numb I guess, I took my books with me, and studied almost everyday whenever I had some spare time. But I know I am way behind. Today I realized that I have not changed the oil in my car since January, I am surprised the thing still runs. My Son Anthony grew up so much in two short weeks, I am glad to be back, it felt like a vacation almost, but it made me want to be back here toughing it out everyday at school and work.

So, for the last two weeks I have been embracing the suck. I tried not to fight it, I just let it happen. However, It is getting harder and harder to keep my mouth shut, this is why the military is not for me anymore, I used to be a lot better about just doing what i am told, The way I am now there's no way I could last one day in the Marines. The thing is, I like to speak my mind, and people can usually tell what i am thinking by just reading my facial expression, this is not a good thing in the military, in there you just do what you are told, period, end of story.

So, It is good to be back, I missed you all, Thank you for waiting. I have so many things to write about. And so little time. Till the next one.

J.V.

OFF To Annual Training

OFF To Annual Training

I'm leaving today, just went to the office to tie off a few loose ends, I am taking my books with me, and my laptop, I don't suppose there is wireless in the middle of the woods in North Florida, but you'll never know.

So long everyone, I will miss you, I will return to the real world in two weeks.

I usually hate car commercials, for the most part they are dull and lack inmagination, unlike Bud commericals, but I thought this one was good.


J.V.

Pictures from two weeks ago

Pictures from two weeks ago

This are the some of the few pics we took when we went to Naples on our break. The weekend before the Summer term started, good thing we have this Monday off, next Friday I am off for my yearly Reserve Training, Two fun-filled weeks.. NOT!

Today some friends are supposed to come over to work on our HW, but so far they are all sleeping, I feel bad waking them up, but time is running.

Anyway, here are the pics, hope you like them.

Loralee, thanks for the comments, you didn't have to. But Thanks.

Ok Everyone, take care, be good to each other.

Is going to be a while before I post again

Is going to be a while before I post again

I know you understand, I barely have time, when the first half of this semester ends it may free me up a bit more, I was a little stunned with a comment an annonymous reader made in my post about Joel P Smith, could it be the guy that article is about? If I had more time I could get into that, but Joel does not need anyone to defend him, it comes with being a journalist I guess.


J.V.

Flashback

Flashback

As you may know from reading my profile, I spent a year of my life in the city of Ramadi, I am glad to announce Ramadi's first ever music video, Lazy Ramadi
Enjoy:




Ok, so it's not exactly a professional video, but, you got to give up to them. They are good!

J.V.

FIRE

FIRE

There was a huge fire at FAU today. The funny thing is that nobody noticed!

J.V.

Today

Today

The summer semester starts, this is it, basically this is the last stretch for me, after this semester it's one month or so in Minnesota then the Fall Semester then Graduation, no brakes in between, the next time I can say I am on break is when I am done with my degree.

Well, here I go.

J.V.

George W has a blog!

George W has a blog!

That's hilarious. Check it out.

J.V.

Weekend!

Weekend!

Anyway, I am off for the weekend. Take care of yourselves, don't do anything I wouldn't do.

We are going to the West Coast of Florida, for a break, the beaches there are much nicer, and the pace is much more laid back.

We'll bring pictures.

Joel Preston Smith

Joel Preston Smith

When I was in Iraq, I made an unusual friend, his name is Joel and he's a liberal journalist, he's as radical as they come, but we share a taste for literature and books, (Bushism intended) Anyway, he took lots of pictures of Iraq, he had the guts to go there before the ground war started, then about 5 months later he came back to Iraq,
if I remember right, he took a flight to Jordan, then took a cab to Iraq, he just showed up to our base, he was like, Hi, I'm Joel! so instead of just shooting him, we let him stay with us, we have kept in touch, he's a true friend of mine, even though we do not share the same point of view all of the time, he's an awesome person to carry a conversation with, this is why I'm happy to announce he has a blog now!

His blog is here, I will post a link to his blog, I hope is not all anti-war, let's burn Bush at the stake type of blog, there's also a rational side to him.

My wife updated!

My wife updated!

After all this time! She posted some pictures and she talks about the work she's been doing in the house. Martha went on vacation last Sunday and she has been a busy bee, she painted the kitchen and the bathroom downstairs, made the house look really nice. I admit, she's the one with style and taste, when it comes to those things I have the sophistication of a caveman. Her blog is here.


J.V.

So Effing depressed

So Effing depressed

I feel down, like never before, suddendly I woke today feeling lower than whale excrement, Can't seem to cheer up, maybe it is because:

My son was diagnosed with asthma yesterday, he has to use a nebulizer three times a day now. (seeing him like that really bothers me, I can't explain it)
My wife and I argue about stupid stuff.
My wife and my Mom will never get along.
Even though we make more money than ever before, we are more broke than ever before.
I have no idea how I am going to pay for college tuition now that the GI Bill and my scholarship ran out.
I suck at being a Computer Engineer working remotely, I used to be ten times more productive when I was at the office in Rochester instead of working from far away.
I guess I could keep going whining about every little thing that bothers me. But what's the point?

All those problems I mentioned have a solution, I am just reacting in a pathetic way. I need to pick myself up. I hate acting so lame.

J.V.

List of Countries I've lived in or visited

List of Countries I've lived in or visited

I don't why I feel like making a trite list like this. But I feel like doing it.

In Chronological order

1.Venezuela (born there!)
2.United States
3.Puerto Rico
4.Spain
5.Greece
6.Malta
7.Turkey
8.Romania
9.Ukraine
10.Italy
11.Albania
12.France
13.Croatia
14.Slovenia
15.Tunis
16.Ireland
17.Jordan
18.United Arab Emirates
19.Kuwait
20.Iraq
21.Germany


Funny enough, I've never been to Canada or Mexico. Also, I don't know Latin America.
I want to visit Brasil and Argentina, and the Andes Mountains, most of all I'd love to go back to Europe, especially England which, I have never been to, and would love to see it. Oh well.

Another thing, with the exception of The first two countries in that list, I have been to all those places thanks to the Military. That's the one thing I do like about it is all the traveling, even though it is never a five star experience, it is always interesting to say the least.

Personality Test

Personality Test

Since everyone else was doing it. Why not?

Attentive Idealist

Ft. Lauderdale Air and Sea Show

Ft. Lauderdale Air and Sea Show

Yesterday we spend all day at the beach at the Air and Sea show. We got there at 8:00AM and we pretty much saw everything, the place was packed! Thousands of people crammed up in a relatively small place. But it was worth it. We took a lot of bottled water and snacks and prepared for a day seeing the might of the U.S. Military.

Here are some pictures taken from the Sun-Sentinel






The Blue Angels






The Marines have landed...hide all the women




It was a little too crowded, but most people were cool about it, I didn't like it when I got my towel stepped on but, at the end you couldn't fit anything else on the beach, I was less than thirty feet from the water, but the trip there kept getting longer and longer as more people packed it in.

Anthony was an awesome sport, he slept through the best part of the show, during the day he was more concerned with being fed than watching the show.

I get mixed feeling about it, I wish the military was as fun as it seems in these shows, but I was also proud to be part of this organization. I am glad that despite the war being so unpopular most people show support for those who serve, it would be a lot crappier if that weren't the case.

These are some pictures I took early in the day when it wasn't as crowded





Anthony thinks he can eat the "Apple" Ipod.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Until the next one.



J.V.

Depressed Web server

Depressed Web server

If you think you have a bad day, try being this web server.

J.V.

A morning babysitting

A morning babysitting

Ok, This weekend I decided to break the normal routine. Usually, Anthony spends Friday nights at his grandma's while Martha and I go out to watch a movie or something. But Yesterday I decided I'd spend all Saturday with Anthony, since I don't have to study for once, I thougth I will spend some "quality time" while my wife is working.

It's ten thirty AM and I am already tired, I have changed him three times (not a pleasant sight) I fed him, (which is weird, he cried the whole time, I don't know if he hated the food, which I can't blame him for that, or that I wasn't giving the stuff fast enough) and now he is taking a nap, I am so glad that I have a free minute, I don't know what to do with it. So I decided to update my blog.

Also, there are things going on at work that I wish I could write them here, but if I did it would defenetly cost me my job...such a shame, there's nothing like sharing good gossip.

As far as books I have read, Two weekends ago I read Baghdad Express, Then last week for my birthday I bought Tuesdays with Morrie, wich was an excellent read. The next day Arthur gave me Uncle Tungsten a memoir about a kid in love with Chemistry, very interesting in a scientific sort of way. But the geek in my is screaming for a book on Computer Science, but not a textbook, I wish there were more books like "Godel Escher, Bach, and Eternal Golden Braid" that's the type of read I am craving for.

I still have some money on that gift card Martha gave me, after Anthony wakes up we're going to the bookstore.

Anthony has been napping for a good hour, I better go check on him.

J.V.

Today I learned..

Today I learned..

"To err is human, but to really screw up, you need a computer"

These days

These days

Been Spending time with the fam. These are the most recent pictures of Anthony.

Some things of interest:

Some things of interest:

Did
Stephen Colbert do a good job? Some say he did, some disagree, I think he has a big brass pair, but he wasn't that funny. Disclaimer: I am a fan of the Daily Show and the Colbert report, I actually watch comedy central, but that was not his best performance, I know that Bush haters will disagree, but oh well.

The Immigration Protest, is making news, I like what Carlos Mencia has to say about it.

I love it when science and philosphy meet. This article by Seed Magazine is pretty interesting.

Also, Apple's new commercials are funny.

J.V.

A day without immigrants

A day without immigrants

It's all over the news, immigrants today want to show the country how they are part of the U.S.

I support them. I want to highlight the fact that even though I am a U.S. Citizen I am also an immigrant, our family came to this country looking for a better life, we came to this country because our Venezuela could not cut it. I love my birth country, as much as I love the United States. But not the same way, you see, the United States is my country now, I live here, this is where I learned to be the person that I am now, and this is the country that has given us many opportunities, yes, it is not perfect, and yes, it is hated by other countries for their world policies, but I still love it.

This is why, I have to point out that some of the protesters are going about it the wrong way. If you want to become part of this system, this American Nation, then why are you flying flags from other countries? Why do you have to be ignorant about it?

My dear friends. Please show the rest of the nation how much you are needed and how you are part of this country not the violent way, but the peaceful way, do not cause riots, and do not go out there with other flags. Remember that your message is saying that you want to be part of the U.S.

I have family that is still waiting to get their legal status resolved, but they work hard, they apreciate this country more than anyone I know, I know, I know, they were not smart enough to choose what country they were born, but they came here to build a better life. And I think that if you fall in that category, why not let them stay? Is that so hard to do?

Working from home today

Working from home today

Ah! Finally, I get to relax, I bought a good book, I cleaned up around the house, and now I can sit back, and do whatever, well, I am putting in some hours at work, since I didn't work that much in the past two weeks I got to make it up, but it feels like work only if I let it, I must remind myself that I actually WANT to work where I work, and that it can be enjoyable if I approach it the right way.

My biggest problem is that I am impatient, very impatient, I don't like to wait, I don't like surprises, Whenever I want to know something, I have to know right now.
In engineering, like a lot of other fields, you may not know what the answer is right away, and you have to do problem solving. I see my co-workers think about an issue, say, why a register is not getting a value. And they can figure it out in their heads in no time at all. I in the other hand, take a lot longer to solve problems, my co-workers don't seem surprised, it's all the experience, they say. But I get frustrated when I can't get the answer.

Another thing, the ability to sort and process a lot of information simultanously is something that is not always easy to do. Or at least it is not easy for me. When I try to do it is like trying to hold my breath, it can only last for so long. Anything can break that hard to get concentration, an email, the phone ringing. Or a random thought that pops up.

I wonder what is the best way to concentrate? I looked it up in the internet and didn't find anything useful. Suggesions are welcome.

J.V.

My Birthday

My Birthday

I turn 27 years old today. I've been working on the project proposal since early this morning, I mean very early, it is due at 12:30 along with our final presentation. After that I am going to Borders and buy myself a good book, which one? I don't know, there are so many good ones. I feel like reading a good novel. Oh well.

My B-day always falls on finals week.

But today as soon as I turn it my paper I will celebrate the proper way.

To all of you that have called me, Thank you so much. You mean a lot to me.

Take care.

J.V.

*correction, my wife gave me a gift card for Borders, so technically, I am not buying it myself. Thanks babe for pointing that out.

Almost done with this semester. Can't wait.

Back to South Florida

Back to South Florida

Army training was pointless as usual, the only events worth mentioning were the fact that I saw good friends, I finished reading Joel Turnipseed's Baghdad Express, and I found out that I may not be going to England this summer after all. The reason for this I think is that they found out I actually wanted to go, so before they give you orders for anything they sit and figure out how miserable and inconvenienced you will be as a result, if they figure out there's a chance you might benefit from it or that you will somehow enjoy yourself, they pull the plug on it. In my case they probably said, "Sgt V wants to go to England, that's no good, let's find somebody who doesn't want to go and put him in his slot. Oh, Sgt Smuck is having a baby in the summer let's send him."

Oh well, is not like I am not used to it by now, I'll get over it. No big deal. I will have to bring up what I learned in the Corps the good ol' FIDO (Fuck it, Drive on)

This week I have one more Final Test, two more presentations and the Final Project proposal and then all I will have left is a project for Computer Architecture and that will end the Spring of 2006.

But, a blog post will not be complete without a link to something a little bit more entertaining than my usual rantings.

Check out this sad, depressing, but realistic outlook of life. Cool Soundtrack.

JV

Off to Duty

Off to Duty

In ten minutes I am leaving to report for weekend drill.


Math Test. Three problems, all straight from the homework. No problem. Expect to do good.

Comp. Arch. Test, the one class I actually liked, turned out to have some tricky questions, I didn't leave anything blank, hoping for that partial credit.

Anthony, doing good. He's big, he feels better, but is still coughing. Not as much, but still..

Anyway. Got to go.

J.V.

Today we give our first presentation in ED1 (Senior Project), we are still not sure how we are implementing our design, I think we are better off hacking a Pocket PC than trying to build everything from the ground up, there is no way we can do Signal Processing by hand in Assembly languange, that's just nuts. But we don't know, that may be precisly what we'll end up doing.

After a presentation, Electronics Lab Test and then more cramming for the two finals tomorrow, as a reward for working hard this week, I get to go on my monthly training with the Reserves Friday night, skip all that resting crap, we are going to the field to do some training. Yeah! Taking a break is for sissies.

Come back Sunday night, Give another project presentation for a different class on Monday, and get ready write the final proposal for the Senior Project and study for the Lab Final.

After that, the semester is pretty much done. I will take a real break after this. I want to take a couple of days off when I will get out of bed only when absolutly necessary. I want the toughest challenge to be deciding what book to read next. Contrary to what Martha thinks, I don't want to see a computer for those couple of days. I can do without it. Thank you very much. Computers are my career but they are NOT my life. I can't wait to have a day when I can honestly say I don't have a freaking thing to do.

Well, I am done whining, and ranting. Sorry if you read this and didn't really care to know all this. I will write what I think are my ways of dealing whith all of this.

Rule number one:

One thing at a time.

Things are easier to deal with when you concentrate with the task at hand and forget the other things that are going on around you, like this blog post, I am only doing this as a way to get unwinded for the day. After this is done I am going to do another task and forget the rest.

Number two:

Be Organized and plan ahead

I can't say that I am good at following my own advice, but If I didn't keep a planner I would forget about things. I try to be as organized as I can, but I admit that I could be doing a better job at that. Especially this semester.

Number three:

Think postive

I know this sounds like some BS self-help tip, but I visualize myself completing the goal whether it's a test or something, if I can picture in my head how good it will go, it usually happens.

Number four:

Get started, NOW!

I suffer from chronic procrastination, but I make myself do these things,
what works for me is reminding myself that I was the one that decided to get a degree, so I am studying because I want to, because it is something that I desire, if I think of it as something that I have to do, my natural reaction is to rebel against it. But if I embrace it as something that I want to prove myself with, then it is more like a challenge. That's my way of self motivation.


Allright, I have burnt enough time. Time to do some work.

Take care everyone.

J.V.

Random Thought

Random Thought

I want to live in Boston.

I'll have to explain that one to Martha.

J.V.

So Far...

So Far...

Last night I had trouble falling sleep, my head was full of so many thoughts. I felt anxious for a while, I went back and forth from the couch to the bedroom. At 7:00 AM I got up, attempted to study and could not get any material in my head. At 8:00 I got Anthony up, changed him, dressed him, and looked all over the place for a bottle, they are all over the place. I never spend time with my son, Even though he is a little sick and I have a gazillion things to do I cherish spending time with him, he is changing so fast. At 8:45 took him to the Doctor. I was the only Dad in the waiting room, Every other kid there was with their Moms, Dr R from South Africa saw Anthony for like 2 minutes and he made a diagnosis, Sinus infection. That was fast. He has had this cough for more than 4 weeks, Robitosin doesn't make it go away, so he is now taking antibiotics.

I saw Ramadi in CNN today, the Marines are fighting from the same building I used to live. The builiding you see in that video is the same exact one where I was standing the very first time I was shot at. I was doing a firewatch on that roof, it was a quiet night at 2:00 AM when they fired an RPG and some AK-47 bullets and then ran off. It was not much of a firefight. Anyway, seeing that makes me sad. Nothing has improved over there, Ramadi looks worse and worse everytime I read about it. You can see the difference of what the building looks like today compared to what it used to look like 3 years ago.

Back to Florida, I took Anthony to his sitter and went to school, today the first 5 groups gave their presentations. There will be a lot of interesting projects.

I am at the library waiting for my group to meet, we are supposed to finish up our presentation for Thursday.

I am starting to get a little worried about that Statistics test. I should be studyin g that. I just can't seem to get into it.

Finals

Finals

Tomorrow: Take Anthony to the doctor, he has had this cough for like 4 weeks, the Dr. says is nothing but it hasn't gone away, later on, study for my lab test, finish the Presentations and study statistics

Wedsnday: Go to Class and Study statistics.

Thursday: Senior Project, make a presentation of our proposed project, describe our design methodology and crap like that, Electronics lab test,

Friday: Stochastic Models Final, Computer Architecture Final.

The Stochastic Models (Statistic and Probability) Final covers Chapter 5, 6, 7 and 8.
I have started to read Ch 5, have not really done too many exercises, Ok, I have not done any exercises, I am now cramming, I am trying to read the whole book and do all the homeworks within the next 72 hours.

Computer Architecture is a different story, Statistics is like brocolli, Comp Arch is like Vanilla Ice Scream, but studying for the final is like eating a whole 5 gallon jug of it. I'll be ok.

The presentations are not hard, but they take so much time to put together, that's how I spent my weekend, meeting with my team to discuss what the hell are we going to make up, I mean, present to the class. It is not easy to BS the teachers, not in this class (Senior Design) The want sketeches, Schematics, Charts, Circuit layout, flowcharts and what not. These things take time, so unimportant things like shaving or changing my clothes are left for a later time.

Ok I was joking in the last part.

Well, Back to 5.4.1 The Distribution of the Sample Mean and 5.4.2 The Central Limit Theorem, so much fun.

Senior Project

Senior Project

Since the first draft of our proposal got accepted, it is safe to make the announcement, the Senior Project is the culmination of Engineering curriculum, the ultimate project, where you take everything you've learned over the past 4 years and apply it to design, develop and build your own creation.

Majid, Chriss, Jaime and I are going to make the most advanced child car seat up to date. This car seat will be able to detect whether the child is unattended inside a vehicle, this will prevent about 9000 injuries per year. If you leave a child unattended in this thing, it will send a text message to your cell phone reminding you that there's a baby, if nothing happens in the next five minutes, it will call the cops. Or something like that.

Not only that, but this child car seat will come equiped with a wireless LCD screen that will show you a live image of the baby while the car is in motion, that way you don't have to turn around while you are driving to check up on the baby.

This product has the full endorsement of Martha, her exact words were "Hurry up and build this thing, I want one NOW". With encouraging words like that, our team can't fail.

Our team is going to spend a lot of man-hours making this concept a reality. That's what engineering is supposed to be about. Good times ahead. This thing has to be done by August.

J.V.

Follow up

Follow up

I should explain what I was trying to say in the last posting better, that was sloppy and unorganized, but it just came out in one big burst basically, I have to chose between taking the time to write well, or prepare for my final exams, I am choosing the latter. I think that I still have a lot to say about what happened to us in Iraq, but now is not the time.

I want to thank those of you who give service man support. Thank you, this means a lot, I don't write these post to get sympathy, or to make this war popular, I do it because taking my feeling and putting them into words helps me understand myself better.

I have spent a lot of time trying to decide whether I should be proud of myself for being there. I can't say that we were not trying to do the right thing, that we were bad people with bad intentions. We made a lot of effort to rebuild Iraq. But when you spend more time trying not to die on a patrol you stop focusing on doing good things like protecting the citizens of that country and rebuiliding the infrastructure that disapeared when Saddam's goverment was taken out.

Now that I have been back I am trying to decide what would have been the best thing to do, and for the life of me I don't know. I don't hate Iraq, I don't have anything against those folks.

One thing I learned from traveling is that ignorance and intolerance are the worst things in the world, Americans are guilty of it, As well as Europeans and Muslims, a little bit of education and understanding goes a long way, but sadly we are beyond a plain old "Can't we all just get along?" I am not that naive, but still, damn, so many ignorant people who can't tell the difference between a Sunny and Shiite, an Arab and a Persian, a Pakistani and an Indian, or who can't understand that just because one is an American that we must be some sort of Rich Right Wing religious nut, those ignorant perspectives are what's wrong with the world, when you use religion as an excuse to hate, you are wrong. When you use rhetoric as an excuse to go to war, you are wrong. When religion is used to kill innocent people, you are wrong, I believe that both sides are guilty. I better go, I have other business to take care of.

Be good to each other people.

Love

J.V.

Ramadi Madness

Ramadi Madness

This is one of those posts that have to be written, 3 tests, 2 presentations and 1 project proposal are due very soon, I should be studying. My study group is going to meet soon, but I need to get this off my chest.


About a year ago there was a series of news articles in the Palm Beach Post.

The Ramadi Madness they called it.

Warning, some parts are very gruesome, and they cut out the worst parts. Thankfully.

So it all starts like this, when we were in Iraq we were not officially prohibited from taking pictures, I don't think. But common sense was the rule. A lot of the restrictions that are imposed during training are left up to the person on the ground making the calls. One of our Sergeants taped some of the action with his handy digital camera. The big flaw is what you see can be misinterpreted when taken out of context, and most of it is. Since he obviously taped stuff after the fact, he never taped a live firefight, he was too busy shooting his weapon to shoot his video cam.

Most of the times he made "funny" tapes to kill the boredom. People who has never been in that situation will never understand what is like to bored out one's mind. People will do the darnest things to pass time. People react to averse situations differently. Some of us found humor on everything. We were not politically correct. I don't apologize for that. We did the best we could. This is not Abu Garib. This is war, and war is not pretty. To me seeing this feels like watching porn in front of you own Mom. I feel ashamed, yet I wanted to keep looking. I am not making sense. I am rambling. But that's ok.

Before I continue I want to emphasize that I used to get into arguments all the time over the way we treated the Iraqis. I never called them Hajis, I made every attempt to get to know and understand their culture, Whenever I was in charge of a patrol I would not allow any sort of mistreatment, and my guys knew it. Most of us strived to be professional, but please understand when you catch people who were trying to kill you moments before is very hard not allow feelings affect you.

So this is what happened. When we got back to the States we had a party in our Armory, this guy started showing the video and a Public Affairs officer saw it and decided to blow the wistle. A full blown investigation gets underway, everybody is interviwed and we had to explain the video. After six months the Army concludes that there was no criminal action. When the Army released the news the Palm Beach post decided to be angry and ran a series of articles. The timing coincided with the Abu Garib prision scandal. The wanted to throw our unit in the same leage as those people. We were not.

I was recently watching and we don't look like saints. Yet, every action is justified. I am in one of those videos, but I am not doing anything ilegal, well, yes I am, I am not wearing my helmet or my gear, but that's ok, Most of the videos have the second squad of 1st platoon. All those guys are very good close friends of mine. While they may not be mature, they are good guys. War sucks. It is ugly.

One video thing that you might want to know that does not show in the article is the explanation of the video labeled "See Haj Run", we were in a building next to the police station in the middle of Ramadi, a building that got blown up a couple of months after we left. That day we were surrounded by a crowd like in the movie "Rules of engament", but our captain did not want to issue the "waste those motherfucker" order. Until they started throwing granades at the compound, the shocking thing is, kids were the throwers, how the fuck do you deal with that? in the video you can see the little kids waving their granades. You can see one dude that got shot. Oh well, I can't write anymore, I must go now.

Reality awaits.




PS If you want to see yours truly in the videos I am in the one labeled "Another day"
All I do is stik my tongue out....

Thanks Joel

Thanks Joel

I just got two books as birthday presents, Baghdad Express by Joel Turnipseed, and Baghdad Journal by Steve Mumford.


Thanks Joel, you are sneaky!

Joel is a friend of mine, we met in Iraq, he came out of nowhere to take pictures of us. For some reason he thought I was funny looking or something. I don't know, the thing is, he is a good friend of mine now.

Baghdad Express is a story about a Marine from Minnesota who loves Philosophy, kind of like Kamran.

Baghdad Journal was written by artist who painted what he saw, very talented, I have written about him before. In it he describes my unit, Bravo Company 124th Infantry, Florida National Guard.

It is not my birthday just yet, (April 27) but this presents made my day. Thank you Joel, and Thank you mi Amor, I know Joel must have gotten our address from you.

I want to write about the "Ramadi Madness" controversy, but I don't have the heart right now. But I think I should write about it.

I will explain later.

J.V.

Last Registration

Last Registration

I am registered for the summer and fall term. Next stop, graduation! December can't get here fast enough.


This are my classes if anyone cares to know:

Summer

CDA 4504 Intro to Data Communication

Had to take it, don't really care about it. I am not really sure what it covers but the name should give me an idea.

CDA 6132 Multiprocessor Architecture

They have allowed me to take a graduate course to count towards my Bachelors degree, if I decide to stay for graduate school, they will count it too. I actually want to take this class. It looks like I could use the knowledge. I hope I don't get killed, my friends tell me that the classes in graduate school are easier, but that doesn't make sense to me.

ENGC 4411 Engineering Design II

This is the second and final semester of the Senior Project, this is where you actually build the project and make it work. I think is the single most important class of the whole curriculum.

FALL

CDA 4210 Intro to VLSI

I have been trying to get this class, no lie, since the Fall 04, and I finally was able to get in. They only offer this class once a year and it fills up quickly. VLSI stands for Very Large Scale Integration and it refers to packing millions of transistor into a single sylicon chip. This is the only class one of my friends is taking, it was the last class he needs to graduate, so he is going to have an easy fall.

EEL 4340 Digital Electronics

There has never been a Computer Engineer student in the history of FAU that has ever gotten anything higher than a 50 on the final exam for this class. I know of many people who take this course twice, not just the lazy bums but the over achievers too, this is one of those classes. But I am not scared, I am petrified.

I'll live.

COT 4935 Senior Seminar

Easy A, one credit course to learn about the Ethics in our profession. I wonder if Politcal Science Majors are required to take a similar course.

CHM 2045 General Chemistry and Lab

I dropped this class this semester, it takes too much time away! So I left it for the end. I don't know what it is about Chemistry that I have been avoiding it since I started, this is a freshman course that I just kept putting off since is not a pre-requesite to any other class. I will make the best attempt to enjoy it despite of all the 18 year olds acting like is the 13th grade. Sigh.


So, that's it, after that, a bachelor's degree!

Can't wait.

J.V.

Learning from others

Learning from others

I just read an article that has reinforced my beliefs that being a good husband and father is the most important job in my life, I don't want to fail at neither.

Oh no! Tom Cruise Killed Oprah

Oh no! Tom Cruise Killed Oprah

This is hilarious. Thanks Michael.

Video Clips of my Wedding

Video Clips of my Wedding

Since everyone else is doing the youtube thing, I thought I'd give it a try, now I think it's the next best thing after sliced bread and Wikipedia, anyway, the clips themselves are very um, sentimental? That was a special day, we were legally married already but we thought we had to have a wedding ceremony,so we saved for a couple of months and did this. The thing nobody at that party knew was that less than a month later I would get called upt to go to Iraq, the Date of the wedding was Dec 15 2002, January 11 2003 our unit got orders to deploy. I did not see it coming. Unlike many of my friends I did not get married in the face of a deployment to get more money, I truly thought I would never have to go. Oh, and another thing, technically I should have not worn my Marine dress blues, since at that time I was already part of the Army National Guard, but it was my girl's decision, and who can contradict a girl on her wedding day? This is the only clip in wich I am not dancing badly, but If you want to see my lack of skills, those clips are here and here. Plase don't laugh so loud, I can already hear you all the way down here.


J.V.

Most recent pic of Anthony

Most recent pic of Anthony

This is my little monkey, he's starting to make sounds that could be interpreted as "words", but I think he's getting ready to talk for real.

Nothing can describe the joy of being a father.

I love you Son.

J.V.

Eureka!

Eureka!

After all these years, I have found the meaning of life.

Today

Today

Today I am going to work until 1:00pm then I am going to meet with my Senior Project Team, We have to come up with a proposal by Tuesday, this might take a lot of work, not only a lot of typing, but actual thought and effort, we have to make our idea sound good and we have to explain how in the world we are going to transfor our idea into a working device. I am very afraid. Which brings me to my to-do list:

This summer I have to:

Take Three Classes, ED2( Senior Project), Data Communication, and Multiprocessor System Architecture, the latter one is a Graduate Course which will count towards both my Undergrad and a Master if I decide to keep going.

Go to the U.K for two weeks whith the National Guard, it's that time of the year for the two weeks of training.

Go to Minnesota to do a summer internship, don't know how long I can stay, but it has to be something significant. I am sort of under the radar from here, I need to get noticed, I want a job offer.

Finish the Senior Project, this is by far the thing that will take up most of my time, I know it.

Be a father and a husband. This one kinda goes without saying.

Checklist for the month of April

Do my taxes. Ahhh!

Finals

2 projects (one presentation and one practical lab)

Make enough money to pay the bills

Plan a little break

My little break

Martha and I are talking about taking a trip to NYC once this semester ends. I think is a great idea.

Good Movie

I saw "Thank you for Smoking" it was hilarious. I liked this review.

Anthony makes a noise that could be interpreted as "Dah-Dah" My wife is not surprised, but I am.

Also, he does not like the Black eyed peas, whenever he hears the song "Pump it" he stars to cry. What's up with that?

That's all for now, Good luck and Good day

J.V.

Anthony has spoken

Anthony has spoken

He now says DA-DA-DA-DA-DA over and over. I don't know if he's calling me, or he just likes to hear himself talk.


J.V.

April's fool!

April's fool!

April is here already, and I can't wait for this semester to be over. 8 more months and I will have a degree!

That will be a happy day.

Anyway, I've gotta run. Good luck to you all.

Love

J.V.

JOGA BONITO

JOGA BONITO

"Play Beautiful", the nike commercials featuring Ronaldinho and his team-mates, these videos really impressed me. I am loving this stuff. Enjoy this and this are my favorite ones.


J.V.

Some thoughts on Thinking

Some thoughts on Thinking

I've decided to share some of the things that I have learned from 9 months of experience as an IBM intern, I hope this is helpful.

Make sure you are solving the right problem

Whenever I find myself stuck, I realise that I am not sure what the problem is, sure, I may have a vague definition in my head, but to get ahead I have to know exactly what the problem is, from there I can take it to make sure I fix the problem, not the blame.

85% of my job is finding problems, the rest is a combination of either fixing it, or reporting it.

Never ask the same question more than once

It annoys people to repeat themselves, and it gives a bad impression when you come back time after time with the same question. This is experience talking.

Ask yourself: What have I learned today?

Strive to learn something new everyday, When you stop learning, you stop adding value to the team. No one can say they know everything about a field, when you do is time to move on or up.

Ask yourself: What have I accomplished today?

I don't really get paid to only learn, Spending the day trying to help the team is essential when you are the new guy. Specially when you don't know much. Like myself.

Managers don't want to hear excuses

Nothing is worse than a person that does not take responsability, I get a slack because I am "just an intern" but only if I am honest about my shortcomings.

Don't be afraid to make mistakes

It is better to make mistakes, this is how you learn. Own up to them though.

Honesty is always the best policy

'nuff said.

Is what you say and the way you say it

Communication skills are as important (if not more) than coding skills, you have to be able to voice your thougts. At some point I will even have to learn how to write.

Ok everybody, I am done preaching, back to reality.



J.V.

Why Math blows my Mind

Why Math blows my Mind

Suppose you are at room with 60 people chosen at random, what do you think the odds are that 2 of those will have the same birthday? If you think about it, there are 365 days in a year. 60 << 365 so, maybe 30% ? right? RIGHT?

Wrong, odds are there's a 99% chance that two people will have the same birthday.

Don't believe me? Read the Wikipedia Article, This blog post, or this Article by Math World

Those who study cryptography are too familiar with this problem known as the birthday paradox which is what the birthday attack is based off.

I am amazed, one day I may be able to understand Math better. I feel that after 5 years of school I have barely skimmed the surface. In order to be a decent Computer Engineer I need to be able to at least be confortable with Math, but to be honest, the more I learn, the more discouraged I get. It seems like there's so much out there. I could spend the rest of my life crunching numbers and memorizing formulas and theorems and yet, I would not be able to make the statement: I KNOW MATH.

That will not stop my from trying though. It is never too late. Besides, is there a better way to spend a beautiful Sunday afternoon? Wait, there is?

Update

Update

I have been so caught up with my things that I forgot to celebrate an important Anyversary for me.

March 19 2004 marks the date when I returned home from my Operation Iraqi Freedom Deployment. These are some dates:

January 11, 2003 Got Activation Orders
January 19, 2003 Left Florida for Ft. Stewart GA
March 11, 2003 Flew out of the United States to the big Sand Box.
May 8, 2003 Landed in Baghdad International aboard a C-130
June 2, 2003 First time I was shot at..and first time I fired my weapon.
July 4, 2003 First time I see a US casualty.
August 31, 2003 First IED to hit my Hummvee
September 11, 2003 After getting hit by 3 IEDs in a week, the Captain gives my 6-man section R&R (Rest and recreation) in AL Assad Air base.
October 30, 2003. Our Unit gets attached to the 1st Infantry Division to do raids in the outskirts of Fallujah. We took no casualties.
December 10, 2003 Got 15 days of leave. I go home, see my family, took Martha to NYC
December 25, 2003 Flew back to Iraq on Christmas day.
February 28, 2004 Handed our sector to the 82nd Airborne who in turn gave it to 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines.
March 1st, 2004 Drove from Ramadi, Anbar providence to Camp Victory Kuwait, 35 mph all the way across the desert.
March 11, 2004 Flew out of Kuwait to Frankfurt Germany, found out about the attacks in Madrid at the Airport. Got stucked there for 8 hours. Later landed at JFK international and I saw the big city, My face hurt for smiling so much.
March 13, 2004 Started the process of de-Activation.
March 19, 2004 Drove back to Florida, arrived at the Miami Armory where a band was playing, the Fire Department showered our buses and what it seemed like the whole Miami-Dade police department escorted us all the way there. I saw my Mother who was crying and my wife who was smiling. broadly.

2 years later. One six month old baby, one more semester to graduate. I love you Martha for being there for me. Mom thanks for your faith. To all my friends thanks for writing me. You kept me going. I never had any doubts that I would come back. Thank you Carola, Thank you all who prayed for me.

This is the past. It is gone, it happened, it is a memory. I am concerned with the future, my goals, my Dreams.

The thing is, I still have more dreams than memories. I dream that one day my Son will tell me that I am a good Dad. I dream that Anthony will not go through the hardships that I have gone through. My Dad comes from a humble place, but he worked hard for my sister and I. Anthony has many more opportunities than Dad and I combined. I hope that I can be enough inspiration for him. I want him to grow up out of trouble, I hope and dream of a Son who will be better than me, smarter, happier, richer and better looking.

Enough rambling. I have to go now.

J.V

Light transmitting concrete

Light transmitting concrete

This is so cool. It's almost see through, this will beautify a lot of buildings. And the concept is not so complex...it makes you think: Why didn't I think of that?

Kudos

The Test

I did good, Cramming worked this time, When I first saw the test I saw that I knew everything but for a minute my mind was completely blank, I took a deep breath and let it all flow. It's hard to believe how fast time is going. But this week actually went kind of slow, I want the semester to be over already.

J.V.

JOY

JOY

Stochastic models homework due in 9 hours. Anthony is 6 months old today!
I have to go home. Tired, mind not working right, how do people cram? My brain has effectively clocked out for the day. Running on auto-pilot. Must turn laptop off and stay off the blog.

I Got out of Jury duty

I Got out of Jury duty

But it was not easy, at first they didn't care to hear that I had a baby, but luckily I came armed with my fat ol' Computer Archtecture textbook under my arm, my pocket protector and my FAU student ID..I was excused.

But, as I left the courtroom, I was thinking, are there good and bad people? I don't know, I don't think that the jails are filled with people that one day decided that they were going to kill somebody or that they were going to drive home drunk, there are people that make wrong choices...I don't know, it's late, I am still studying for that test tomorrow, note to self: "never wait until the day before the test to start studying...wait until the day of the test so then I realise that it's hopeless to even try and then I stress less. It's 12:20 and I have been studying 10 hours straight with a break to drink Mountain Dew, We just got kicked out of the library, so we are in the All Night study area, it's sad that I know everyone here. Where are all the communication Majors? Not here. Ok, back to Dynamic branch prediction and Speculative Execution.

JURY DUTY

JURY DUTY

It's 10:45 pm and I am still at the office. I made a promise to finish something, but it is not fixed. Tomorrow morning I have to report to Jury duty. Will write more later.

J.V.

I LOVE MY WIFE

I LOVE MY WIFE

;-)

J.V.

MSN SPACE

MSN SPACE

I added some pics.

Warning: Todo el contenido esta en Español.

Love

J.V

Is there something wrong with Patent Laws?

Is there something wrong with Patent Laws?

Patents are getting ridiculous, Something needs to be done about it.
This essay by Michael Crichton published in the New York Times brings light to that issue.
I love reading material written by this guy. He brings entertainment to science. How can anyone resist? Be warned, it breaks the law.

J.V.

Math for Programmers

Math for Programmers

Best blog post I've read in a while.

This post is full of great links, like this one (Math Every Day)

It gives math a new perpective.



J.V.

Foul Move

Foul Move

Yesterday was a crazy day, a new nephew in Venezuela, my little sister at the hospital sick here, A test in the afternoon that I studied for that morning, (did good there though) a big day in the Senior project, a SHPE meeting, a date with my wife...at the end of the day I was drained.

But the crazy thing was what happened yesterday at my Senior Project class, today was going to be the day were we finalized how the groups were going to be arranged, from day one we were told that we would be able to choose our own groups as long as there was one member from each discipline represented. For the mini-project we were randombly arranged, as a result nobody in our group had known each other previously, but we had so much fun we agreed on staying together. We made plans for the summer and we got to know each other in the proccess.

Yesterday the teachers threw a curve ball at us, they told us that for the actual project we could choose our own groups...as long as every member in your team is not an old member from the mini-project. In other words, I can be on a team with anyone but David, Hammed or Shereece, my old team-mates.

As you can imagine, this did not go over too well, people had gotten used to their respective teams. For the next ten minutes we were an angry bunch, after realizing that fighting it was futile, we gave up and found new teams.

My new team looks promising, but I feel like high school, you know, when you break up with your girlfriend to go out with her best friend? You still look at your ex accross the classroom and feel a little guilty. What? You don't know that feeling? Nevermind.

J.V.

I am an uncle!

I am an uncle!

My new Nephew was born today in Caracas, Venezuela. Can't wait to meet him.

Student made up story of rape on FAU's Boca campus, police say: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

So she made it up. After the big scare this caused I am relieved and annoyed, many students were looking at FAU with a different point of view. When the news of the rape was first reported I thought it was weird that the "victim" showed up at Broward General Hospital (in Ft. Lauderdale, 20 miles away) when there are a lot of different places (hospitals, clinics and police stations) she could have gone to that are closer to the Boca campus.

The other thing is the description of the suspect, "a black male with short hair" Ok, that narrows it down.

Come'on people, please Think.

This is J.V. reporting from South Florida.
Good day and good luck.

Life, the Universe, and Everything

Life, the Universe, and Everything

This MIT professor has an intersting theory. According to him, the Universe is a big computer, We are just bits of information, zeros and ones, It seems plausible, atoms are bits, the laws of physics are opcodes. Let's just hope is not running windows.

J.V.

Sexual Frustration in Asia

Sexual Frustration in Asia

China has too many boys. Female fetuses often get aborted because parents prefer to have male babies. This is an thought-provoking article about that. I don't know if it's going to go as far as to cause the next war, but it is something to think about.

I would hate to be a single dude out there. I really feel for them.It would be like living in Camp Lejeune all over again.

Seriously, isn't this like, a crime or something? I wonder what's being done about that. How can you solve this problem? This will have to involve changing the mentality of a culture that is millenia older than ours.

Think.

J.V.

This is how you play soccer

This is how you play soccer

It's almost time for the World Cup, and since Venezuela is not going, (yes, I know) I root for Brasil. As long as Argentina does not win, I am happy.

The World Cup is one of those thing that I look forward to, every four years the whole world watches as 24 teams compete for it. I still remember Mexico '86 back in the day, I recall getting to Europe just days after France '98 and I cannot forget USA '94.

Americans could not care less about soccer (the real name is football), which is sad, I am a big baseball fan myself, as those of you who know me can attest, but I think it is messed up that we call the baseball finals the "World Series" when it actually involves at the most two countries. One day that will change.

Ok, I'll stop rambling now.Enjoy the video.


J.V.

Gmail has been hurting lately

Gmail has been hurting lately

I recently switched to gmail the email service from google. I have heard all kinds of good things about it, overall it has lots of perks, I think it has better features than the account I've had for years, namely, hotmail. But these days it has been acting strangely, when trying to get to my account I get these "temporarily unavailable" messages.

Last friday before my Statistics midterm a fellow student was freaking out because he could not get his formula sheet for the test, he had saved it in his gmail account and could not log in to get it. That's scary, it could have happened to me.

I am glad I am not the only one noticing this. This guy has noticed it too. But that does not compare to this guy's story. Damn, sucks to be that dude.

I think that the problems have something to do with this story, apparently there is vulnerability in Gmail that was exposed a couple of weeks ago, it turns out that if the preview lines of an email has javascript in it, it will execute, this guy even shows you how to do it. So every script kiddie wannabe hacker has started messing with the server, I can speculate that google is bent over backwards trying to fix this problem, it is not hard to imagine some hackers being mad at Google for being evil, as in Microsoft evil. I am not saying they are, but that's just the word on the street, or, shall we say, the word on the net.

Ok people, that's all I have, be good to each other.

Love

J.V.

Random notes about nothing in particular

Random notes about nothing in particular

About a friend

I've got a friend that applied to 7 great universities and got rejected by all of them. I am not going to say his name, but he goes to school with me and I think he is the best hacker I know. This dude breathes code, he can program better in his sleep that I can after ten cups of coffee. Yet, Cornell, MIT, Caltech, Urbana-Champaing, Berkely and all those other schools said, "No Thanks, have a nice day" He is trying to get in the PhD program and if he can't make it, what about me? I have dreams of someday getting a Masters or Phd from MIT, I don't think this going to discourage me not to try it, but it certainly brings my hopes down.

This Summer

I will be back in Minnesota in about 3 months, roughly the same amount of time it has been since I left it. I can't say this doesn't get me excited. Working is so much better at that office and some good friends of mine are in that area. I can't wait to be back out there. Plus the summers are much nicer in Minnesota, aka God's fridge.

I can't believe how quickly time seems to pass.

England this Summer

This summer I am also supposed to go to England with the Military, I don't know the details yet, but it's going to be some secret mission, oops! Was I not supposed to say that? Damn!
Well, since the cover has bee blown, I will spill the beans: Exchange program, British dudes come over, train with our equipment, drink our beer, meet the locals, we do the same out there. And to think that they pay us for that. Well, I am making it sound too good. I have no idea if we are supposed to go to some SAS survival schools or some messed up crazy thing like that. For all I know I could be going to British boot camp and don't even know it. We'll see.

Some other crazy friend

I've got another friend that many of us care about. I love this guy like a fat kid loves cake. But sometimes I don't understand him. I've been known to piss him off, so I am just going to say this. Dude, I wish you the best. Embrace your pain and live the best way that you know. You've got a lot of people that care about you, myself included.

What is it about this blog?

Whenever I write on this blog I try to think about what would happen if some company that I am trying to get a job from read this, what would they think?
And I try to make sure that anything I write does not get back to haunt me. But sometimes I can't help myself and I write something dumb or too personal, or just plain pointless. That's just me. I say screw that. This is my personal space, where I write down my personal thoughts, this has nothing to do with my professional life. I write this because pretty soon I am going to go job hunting and I have been warned by my friends about this. Personally I am not too worried. I don't think there's anything here that can prevent me from looking too unprofesional, and the thing is, does this ever happen? I hear about a person that got fired from an airline for posting pictures of herself in her uniform, not nudity, nothing obscene, just pictures of herself dressed like a flight attendant. But, I don't know, sometime I worry too much I guess.

Time to go to work!

Ok, it is almost 7:00 AM so I am going to start my working day. 8 hours of perl coding, after that, study for my electronics lab test next week, followed by some Computer Architecture Homework. Carpe diem et pecuniam!


J.V.

Giving the lie to five Oscar pics - Los Angeles Times

It's no secret Hollywood does not let the truth get in the way of a good movie. Here's an interesting article to ponder upon.


J.V.

How would the Simpsons look with real actors?

How would the Simpsons look with real actors?

Thanks to Dr. Marques

What could this mean?

What could this mean?

I just got a missed call from a number I did not recognize, when I called back I got an answering machine from the University of Florida's office of Graduate Students, I remember filling out a form to request more info, I don't recall giving them my number, or applying for a Graduate Program...yet.

Strange indeed.

Vacation

Vacation

Martha and I are going to Orlando today. this, like last year's trip to Chicago, was a spur of the moment thing, we got reservations for one night in the Magic City, we will have lots of fun, I still have no idea wich park we are going to, we have not gotten that far yet. We left Anthony at his gradma last night and we are packing our stuff right now. A break after three hard months, this is life.


Life is good.


Love

Jose

Success

Success

Today we had our Senior Project presentation, not the big one, this is just the "mini-project" to get us warmed up. We had to make a device to shoot an specified amount of water into cups laid in a 3 by 3 meter grid. We were given 4 coordinates a week ago and a 5th coordinate today. The challenge was to hit all 5 targets from outside the grid area. In these pictures the closer target is shown.



Our Team hit all 5 targets, we will get a good grade, but, we were not the team with the best performance. Out of 12 Teams, 3 Teams did better than us, 4th out of 12 is not that bad, but we wanted to be the best team.

That's ok, it's our own fault we did not pay too much attention to measuring the amount of water that got in the cups, we were more concerned with hitting the cup.
So this is the end of the beginning of the end, if that makes sense.


I plan on writing a full report with photos and videos in my other blog.

J.V.

Overthrowing Darwin's Number Two Theory

Overthrowing Darwin's Number Two Theory

This is interesting, a team of researchers are using John Nash's Game theory to explain the mating behavior of species. If they are right, then it means Darwin was wrong, which will make some scientists upset.

I wonder what my friend Kamran from the University of Chicago has to say about this.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia

Wikipedia, the widely successful on-line encyclopedia, has crossed the 1,000,000 article mark.