Russian Car Wreck

Russian Car Wreck

Now this is Social injustice.

I could not stand to live in a society that allows that. Yet in many parts of the world this is common ocurrence. I love the fact that something like that would never fly here in the US.

J.V

Want to know what sites can see about your computer?

Want to know what sites can see about your computer?

Check this out.

Those funny Floridians

Those funny Floridians

The temperature in Ft. Lauderdale was 48 degrees Farenheit this morning.
Everyone in FAU has come to school dressed as if the Second Ice Age just arrived.

Now it's really easy to tell who is from the North, they are the only people walking around in white shorts and wearing sunglasses. You can probably find them right now at the Beach "sun-bathing".

You gotta love it down here.

Atomic Blast Photos

A picture is worth a thousand words.

J.V.

What the TUT?

What the TUT?

People at museums say the darnest things. The Boy King would roll over in his tomb if he heard some of the things being said at his exhibit.

Welcome to South Florida your Majesty.


"Tut. We're at the Tut thing. Downtown Fort Lauderdale. Yeah … No. Tut. King Tut. The mummy. I don't know. I guess it's an art museum. The building with the stairs out front. Right across from the fountain. No, we'll eat after. Meet us here. Everybody's here."

These comments are almost as priceless as the treasures being shown:

Reactions to the treasures

Entranceway approaching Temple of Amun
"This is where Britney Spears got her ideas for her outfits."


Cosmetic container in the form of a duck
"So, makeup goes way back."


Statuette of a leonine goddess
"It looks like something I saw on eBay."
"That's a bear."


Staff depicting a Nubian captive
Sidney: "Look at how long that cane is. He had to be over 6 feet tall."
Cheryl: "But they said he was a tiny man."
Sidney: "Not if he used that cane he wasn't."
Cheryl [to her friend]: "Pat, Sidney says he had to be over 6 feet tall to use that cane."
Ben: "That's not a cane. It's a staff. It's used as a sign of power, not to … "
Cheryl: "But Sidney says … "
Ben: "Well, Sidney's an idiot."


Bust of a cow goddess
"Their god was a cow?"


Colossal statue of Amenhotep IV
"That'd make a great waterfall at our complex."


Gilded funerary mask of Tjuya
"They should melt it down for teeth."


Ceremonial dagger
"I'd like to take that knife fishing with me and git-r-done."


Wall inscription reading, "He was the son of Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye and probably the father of Tutankhamun"
" 'Probably.' Everything's 'probably this' and 'probably that.' I'm sick of that. Are they just making it up as they go? Probably. I probably should have stayed home."


Part of a balustrade depicting Akhenaten and his family under the sun god
"Is that a basketball?"


Photos depicting how items in Tut's tomb were found
"It looks just like my garage."
"I'd hate to be stuck for all eternity with everything in my apartment."


Face from a composite statue of Nefertiti
"She looks like one of the Coneheads from Saturday Night Live."

From their mouths to the sun god's ears

In the ticket line
"Twenty-five dollars! I thought you said it was $8. Forget it; I'm not going to have any money left for Quiznos."


In the souvenir shop
"Chocolate Tut!"


Best searching-for-a-place-to-sit-down quote
"I'm going into the next period to see if there's a bench."


The past meets the present
A grade-school chaperone: "The valley of the kings was used from approximately 1550 B.C. to 1070 and contains some 80 tombs. If you have to go to the bathroom, go now!"


Requisite religious comment
"This guy was here before Jesus? [Then] who cares?"


What's the big deal?
"He wasn't famous for anything, right? I mean, he didn't do anything special. He was just a 13-year-old who died, and they found his bones, right?"


Revelation upon spotting photo of mustachioed excavator entering Tut's tomb
"See the guy in the picture? It is Geraldo. I told you."


Best exchange beside video projection of Tut's mummy onto slab
"He has such skinny ankles."
"That's just bone, you moron."


Simply astounding quotes
"Boy, they really did a nice job re-creating all this stuff."
"This is pretty, whatever it is."
"These are real?"


Keeping up with the Tutankhamuns
"I don't give a fuck what King Tut had. He still didn't have more jewelry than me."


Most romantic remark in front of a statue of the serpent goddess
"The serpent goddess wants to give you a hug."

As they were leaving

"I've seen better in Vegas."

"I guess I'm a very shallow museumgoer, but I wanted to see some dead people."

"I left my Xbox for this?"

"I'm going to the restroom. I've been holding it in since 1330."


Thanks to
Joanie Cox and T.M. Shine from City Link Magazine,
they were kind enough to write down this and other quotes in their article.

ME? Procrastinate? No Way!

ME? Procrastinate? No Way!

I have been a terrible procrastinator this week. I only worked 30 Hours. I did almost no Homework. I got some things done. But a few things happened that distracted me from my usual routine. That must have been it.

Griping and Whining about work

Also, I have found out that working from home is not so great. I love that my company is allowing me to this, because I honestly would not want to work anywhere else. But I really need to do work at an office, Working from home sucks, I do have a place in Delray Beach to work at but I must say that the temptation of going home is too great. But, starting this week, I will only work from there. I hate the fact that I cannot relax at home because everytime I see my laptop I think that I should be working. This is no good. I truly believe that a person must have a clear and distinct separtation from a "workplace" and a "home". And a set schedule. At least this is what seems to work for me. Having this flexibility is awesome but I end up abusing it. So, I have decided that starting right now, no more work from home, I will only work at the office, and study either at FAU or home. Preferably FAU, that means I won't be home that much, but at least I can completely relax when I am there. We'll see how that one flies with my wife. But the other thing, the house is full of too many distractions, her, my son, the cats, the TV, the internet, the fridge, at the office I only have the option to work. At school I can either do some work or blog.

I believe that it's time for some change.

J.V.

KING TUT

KING TUT

We got tickets! We are going today. Updates when we get back.

Read about the King Tut Exhibition at the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale here.

************UPDATE****************

I was a tad dissapointed. I was expecting to see the Mummy which did not happen. It was very crowded which sucks when you are trying to get through with a baby in a stroller.

There were only like 70 objects, but I must say they were pretty darn neat. I even learned how to recognise King Tut's name in Egyptian heiroglyphics, which goes something like this:

But I could have learned all of that watching National Geographic. However, I got to spend a nice evening with my lovely wife and my little fat Monkey. So it's all good.

Now having procrastinated all weekend it's about time to do some homework.

Be good to each other.

Love,



J.V.

Engineering Desing, A class above

Engineering Desing, A class above

I like this class. The project is coming along nicely. Tuesday we have our first Team presentation. We are supposed to talk about our project without going into detail. We are doing good. I am lucky to be in a good team. I am curious about the ideas other teams have. I know there's a bunch of creative types in our class.

One thing I have noticed is that the simplest, most straight-forward plan always works best and gets the best results. It seems like professors like to see complex ideas implemented, but when you think about the big revolutionary inventions they are usually based on simple concepts. The beauty of a good design comes with its simplicity, Just think about the IPod versus any other MP3 player out there. Which one do you prefer?

We hope that the lil'giant we built follows the same guideline. We want to show a good design, My goal is to have everyone there going like, "Of Course that works, why didn't I think of that?"

I will let you all know how it went after March 2nd when we show it to the whole world. I think is good. We put a lot of effort into making the dammed thing.

J.V.

Psychology Today: Procrastination: Ten Things To Know

It turns out, Procrastinating is even bad for your health. Interesting. I will write more on this later.

J.V.

Man Dies After Insurance Co. Refuses To Cover Treatment - Yahoo! News


ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?

Pointless random Observation

Pointless random Observation

What does my good friend Kamran, My Senior Project Group Member Hammed and my Electronics Lab partner all have in common? They all come from IRAN, I just realized that. They must be up to something.

Best FAU Professors

Best FAU Professors

I did an unofficial survey, but I don't have the results yet, however I have been in FAU since 2001, and I keep hearing the same names over and over, the top 2 Engineering professors are:

Dr Alhalabi

They say he can teach. That he is really good professor. I can tell because his classes fill up quickly, I tried to take Logic Design with him back in '02 but had a schedule conflict, then I tried the same thing with Microporcessors and had no luck. But everyone that has taken his class says he is the best.

Dr. Raviv

This Professor I know is an excellent Teacher, When I was a Bank Teller at the FAU branch he used to chat with me, very friendly fellow, of course he did not have a clue that I was an engineering student, why would anyone studying Engineering work at a bank?
Dr. Raviv is famous for his Problem-Solving course, which I have not taken.

So these are my predictions, but I won't know until my results come back

Finally another blogger from FAU!

Finally another blogger from FAU!

Dr. Oge Marque's blog is the only blog I found on google that relates closely to this one. I happen to know Dr. Marques. He is a teacher in my department and the SHPE advisor, although I have never taken a class with him. Not because I did not want to, it just happened that way. Bad schedule luck I guess. I never have the luxury of choosing what professor to take, I just try to make my classes fit my schedule. But who cares about that? The thing is, finally another FAU blogger.

J.V.

I swear I knew nothing about this

I swear I knew nothing about this

IBM unveils super-fast microprocessor.

Enjoy.

;-)

TODAY

TODAY

The Mission

To study for my Structured Computer Architecture test at 1100 hrs. AND,
To finish my Stochastic Models (stats) Homework that's due at 1000 hrs.

Intel

Time on deck is 0619 hrs, I have exactly 3 hrs and 41 minutes to accomplish these tasks. The Homework will take up most of my time. I should be ok for the test all I have to do is memorize the formulas and make sure I understand what the hell RAID is and what it stands for,etc etc.

Afterwards

Go back to work, and hopefully I can go on a date tonight with mi amor. Don't you love Firdays?

Wow, three posts in one day, I better stop.

Attention IPOD owners

Attention IPOD owners

Are you tired of using Itunes? or Windows media player? Well, there IS an alternative. It is called Songbird, brought to you thanks to the Open Source movement. It is free of charge and developed by some skilled coders. If you use it and love/hate it, let me know.


J.V.

Boycott Egypt

Boycott Egypt

Very interesting. It turns out, an Egyptian newspaper published the Danish cartoons last year during Ramadan the Holy Month, and nobody cried outrage. Read the story here.

J.V.

Sundance Festival Today

Sundance Festival Today

If you're an FAU student, and don't plan on getting shot by 5:00pm, then come join us at the Sundance Festival. And visit SHPE's booth too. I will be bringing some Venezuelan food. See you there!

Happy Birthday Pili!

Today my little cousin turns 32! Wow, amazing how time flies.


J.V.

FAU student at Boca campus shot by school police officer: South Florida Sun-Sentinel


This is what everyone has been talking about today, funny how the stories are all different. This and the homeless guy who got beat to death last month make FAU one of the most "interesting" places to go to school.

Why can't we just have Drunks like all the other colleges?

Laudos Cotidie

Laudos Cotidie

"Envy is ignorance, imitation suicide."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

If anyone out there is wondering how come I have not updated in a long time...

I have been busy, that is all.

I miss blogging.

Love

J.V.

FAU Vista #002

FAU Vista #002

The library

From 2nd Floor East looking west. so many hours spent there...

FAU is not like your typical school in Florida, 80% if its students work, the average student age is 25. A lot higher than other schools I suppose. 92% of our students commute. One thing I have noticed is that admission is getting tougher since every year more and more people apply. This used to be a safety school for slackers in West Palm Beach and Ft. Lauderdale, not so much anymore.

The one thing I don't understand is how come no one has ever heard of this school. We are constantly overshadowed by UM, (University of Miami) UF, (University of Florida) FSU and basically everyone else in South Florida. (FIU, Nova, UCF, USF) But with twenty-six thousand students in eight campuses and an excellent staff of very smart professors (some of which can actually teach) it is hard to ignore my little ol' FAU.

Even though you make me mad all the time, I still love you FAU.

Go fighting owls!

J.V.

Beatiful China

Beatiful China

For your viewing pleasure. See more here.


J.V.

FAU Vista #001

FAU Vista #001

Boca Campus

This is FAU after Hurricane Wilma. You would walk this way if you were going from the Physical Science Bld to the South side of campus.

This is the first many to come. The plan is to show FAU through the eyes of an everyday student.

J.V.

...

...

Even though the days go by fast, and it seems like a lot, I must say that I enjoy college, I love what I am studying, I guess I am lucky to be able to say that I love what I do, my only regret is that the day is not long enough to do all the things I want, besides learning about computers I happen to enjoy the company of my loved ones, and my good friends. The previous post was my way of explaining why I may not call, or why I don't visit anymore, does not mean I don't care about you.

Love

J.V.

Catching up

Catching up

With homework, work, bills and such.
It sucks not to have time for the little things that bring me happines, such as talking to relatives and good friends.

Mama y Papa, los quiero mucho, sorry I don't call as often.

Life is going fast.

Get up.

eat.

Drive to FAU.

Work.

Go to class.

Work.

Do Homework.

Eat.

Take time to enjoy my family.

Do more Homework.

Rest.

Repeat.

While I was gone...

While I was gone...

Mi amor made her own blog.

Life's Treasures.

Life is Good.


J.V.

Gone for the weekend

Gone for the weekend

Have to do my Monthly weekend drill, but I'd like to leave you with this article so you can ponder upon how good we have it in this country.


Love

J.V.

Drink Good Coffee

Drink Good Coffee

Even though I come from a family of coffee additcs conoussiers, I was not introduced to the Java goodness until late 2003 while doing all-nighters on top of a building equiped with a radio, a team of four guys, a sniper rifle, an a thermo full of concentrated coffee. I experimented with it when I went back to school, but I was doing it wrong, I was drinking coffee at night to help me stay up the way I did back in the war, the problem is that after a certain time (usually 11:30pm) my brain refused to retain new information, therefore studyin was impossible.
I was disapointed, then I re-discovered an old wedding gift, the expresso machine, learned how to use it, and now there's no looking back. The secret is to make a good cup first thing in the morning, then ride the Java train all day, repeat as necessary, do not drink after 5:00pm.

It turns out, I am still doing it wrong, after reading this article, I see that I have been missing out all along, I can say that Moertel is right about freshly grounded coffee, since that's how they do it at my parent's or at least that's how they used to do it. Back in South America that's THE way to make coffee. Gotta remember that before they discovered black gold oil, Venezula exported coffee and cocoa beans, so they should know a bit about coffee.

Sincerely Wired

J.V.

New Blog everybody!

New Blog everybody!

I started a new blog. Engineering Design 1. It should be interesting, at least to my Teamates. I have to tell them about it though. If they object to the blog it will have to go, sorry.


I have not gotten any feedback on my random quotes! People,it is a rather complex system. I hired three assistants to work around the clock, whenever they detect a person typing my blog's url, they type up a new quote before it gets to your computer. If you hit refresh then they have to type up a new one really, really quick. They are extremely fast and reliable, I think I should raise their salary to $1.78 a week.

J.V.

Got Code?

Got Code?

This page has a bunch of Math Programming problems that are interesting to look at. The first one was ok, If I had the time I would try them all.

If you really want to test yourself, try these questions by Joel Spolsky.

These problems are hard. But, To say that programmers solve this type of problems everyday would be a complete lie.
Maybe it's different at Google, but I doubt it.
The only skill I'd say is necessary would be the ability to simplify problems, not complicate them. The divide and conquer aproach works wonders. Some geeks like to show off their smarts by asking questions like this.
I admit I am not a code guru, I've got a long way to go before I can lay claim to that status, but I like to look at these things just to try to keep the mind sharp.

J.V.

TAGGED

TAGGED

5 jobs I've had

Landscaping
Waiter
Bank Teller
Sergeant in the Marines
Math Tutor

5 Movies I would watch over and over

Full Metal Jacket
Fight Club
The Matrix
Ocean's eleven
Old School

5 places I've lived

Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela
Lauderdale Lakes, Florida
Camp Lejeune, North Carolina
Ramadi, Iraq
Rochester, Minnesota

5 TV shows I love to watch

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
The Mind of Mencia
MTV's punked
Family Guy
The Simpsons

5 places I've been on vacation

Margarita, Venezuela
Orlando, Florida
New York, New York
Paris, France
Rome, Italy

5 Favorite foods

Lasagna
Arepas con carne mechada (it's venezuelan thing...)
Bacon Cheeseburguer
A bloody steak
French Onion Soup

5 places I'd rather be

As long as I am with my loved ones (Martha and Anthony) then:

Here, I am fine. Not complainig.
In Caracas with my family over there there.
Having Dinner with Mi Amor at a Champ-Elysees avenue in Paris.
In Rochester, MN.
At the beach, anywhere in the Caribbean.


Love

J.V.

Blogcritics.org: I'm A Programmer, Not A Computer Guy

This is a good article I read today. I sort of feel the same way, with a few exceptions (I live in Florida, not California) I could say the same thing about the profesion.

Just thought I'd share.

J.V.

PAIN

PAIN

pain
n.

1. An unpleasant sensation occurring in varying degrees of severity as a consequence of injury, disease, or emotional disorder.
2. Suffering or distress.
3. pains The pangs of childbirth.
4. pains Great care or effort: take pains with one's work.
5. Informal. A source of annoyance; a nuisance.

There is a lot of pain associated with love. Pain, unlike fear, does not heal with information. Time is the best painkiller. Time. What a concept. The only thing man can't stop. We think is relative, we think we understand, but we don't. Not really.

Anyway, My Mother's sister ( mi tia ) in Venezuela has been in a comma since Wednsday last week. To say that she is my auntie does not sound the same. She was my Mother's best friend. I know how bad it is, but I cannot tell my Mother. There is enough pain in her life. Life is so fragile, I remember realizing that in Iraq, when one moment you are there, the next one you may not be. Every day, every hour, every waking moment counts as being alive. My Auntie knew that, before her surgery she dyed her hair, went to the beach to get a tan, and then went under to get surgery done on her hip. She has not come back yet. Where is she? Is she there? Her heart is pumping blood, her lungs are taking oxygen to her blood. Her brain is not responding.

Tia wake up.

We love you.

J.V.

previous post has been edited

previous post has been edited

I changed the previous post "Yummy Brain Gravy" to make it look like a literate person wrote it.

J.V.

Yummy Brain Gravy

Yummy Brain Gravy

I added Michael's blog to my list of good blogs because, um, I think it's a good blog. I meant to do this a while back, but always forgot to get to it. I seem to be doing other stuff lately, like working and studying and all that crazy stuff that grown-ups are supposed to do these days.

If you cared to know

I went to a Florida Panther's hockey game last night, Thanks to the Bank I used to work for (BankAtlantic) I got some awesome seats, Thank you John!! Couple of things I noticed:

1. The NHL has changed, Columbus Blue Jackets? What the hell? Columbus? is that in OHIO?
2. New rules, there are no ties anymore, there is a shootout if no teams score after a 5 minute overtime.
3. The Office Depot Arena is now the BankAtlantic center, which is cool, ever since I stopped working for them they seem to be doing good, Coincidence?
4. The away team wears white jerseys, boy that was confusing.
5. If you own a Lexus you park for free, if you have a account at BankAtlantic you get free tickets if you wear red on Fridays (or something like that)

I was a good game, we were eight rows back behind the goal keeper, (or whatever they call it in hockey), If Jay Bouwmeester's slap shot hadn't hit Nathan Horton's stick and gone in with 46.9 seconds left in the third period, they would have gotten nothing against Columbus, the NHL's second-worst team.
Horton's goal forced overtime, where the Panthers lost to the Blue Jackets 5-4 on David Vyborny's goal with 12 seconds left. The Panthers, who started the game five points out of the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, had won eight of their previous 10 at BankAtlantic Center.



J.V.

On Philosophy

On Philosophy

My Friend Kamran has written a wonderful essay stating a Problem with Modern Philosophy, and what philosophy ought to be. Excellent read, I could not agree more.

I once read a marvelous novel called "Sophie's World" that would probably get me laughed at by a Philosophy Ph.d yet I would say that it is the perfect book for someone curious about philosophy and life in general.

Remember, Thinking is free.

Thank you Kamran.

J.V.

Have you hugged your Linux machine today?

Have you hugged your Linux machine today?

“The day Microsoft makes something that doesn't suck is the day they make a vacuum cleaner.”

This quote was copied from Uncyclopedia, so I don't really know who wrote it. The article about Microsoft is pretty funny.

FL GUARD Painting in the Pentagon

FL GUARD Painting in the Pentagon

I will not believe this until I see it with my own very eyes, and even then I will still be skeptical, but the mighty powers that live in our nation's capital in their infinite wisdom, are thinking about hanging this painting depicting soldiers of the 1st Battalion 124th Infantry doing a raid in Ramadi, Anmbar providence, Sunni Triangle, Iraq, APO AE 66666-666...in the halls of the Pentagon! Now, I don't believe it yet. Why would they care about the Florida Guard? In the Army it's all about the Rangers, the 82nd Airborne, the 101st, the green berets, etc. etc. We were just a bunch of part timers that got called up, it's amazing how we did it. Average guys that made the best of what we had. I am proud of you, 1/124th.

I like this painting, even though it makes me feel very old, like all of that happened 60 years ago instead of just three. I have almost forgotten Iraq.

Except in my dreams.

But those don't even visit me anymore, I have not had any Iraqi dreams in a long time, ever since before I watched the movie Jarhead. This is good, I suppose.

By the way I added "Top 5 Most Frightening Moments of my life" to the list of favorite posts up in the upper right hand corner. I looking back is funny how scared I got right before Anthony came to this world. Fear is how we react to what we don't know or don't want to know, it just caused by ignorance, information is the cure for it, that and plain old guts I guess, if anyone has that one figured out please send me a message because I'd love to know. Until then I will just play it by ear and live every day the best I can.

Love

J.V.

*editer later:

If you wish to read more about the 1/124th read this article by Newsweek magazine published Nov 2003, a picture of my ugly mug is there,( my five minutes of fame) I got a lot of flak for having that picture in there, all because I wrote that I loved my wife on my helmet.
Disclaimer: I was in Bravo Company but not in the Ghost Squad, and I was not the first or only one to write on my helmet, the Puerto Ricans started it.

A good read for all you "concerned" citizens

A good read for all you "concerned" citizens

How can anyone resist an essay that begins like this:

I am going to challenge you today to revise your thinking, and to reconsider some fundamental assumptions. Assumptions so deeply embedded in our consciousness that we don’t even realize they are there.

Hopefully this will spark some thought, specially to all my friends that lean to the left. Read this. Think! And if you don't like it...well, life is tough.

Thinking about a New Blog

Thinking about a New Blog

I can see that ED1 (Engineering Design I) is going to be an experience worth blogging about by itself. In the next couple of sememsters my group and I are going to
a) Come up with a project
b) Design it and write the specs
c) Build it
d) Make it actually work

Since many of my friends have been through this class before I already know that the biggest challenge is step d. This is why I think this will something interesting to write about.

This class is so important to the Department that they actually have 3 proffesors and a Full-Time TA assigned to this class. The classroom was filled with, If I remember correctly: 12 Mechanical, 14 Computer and 14 Electrical Engineers, oddly enough there are no Civil, and no Ocean Engineers in it, what's up with that?

I did a poor job of selling myself, we had to introduce ourselves to the class, I was one of the first ones to go, and I did not want to come across as an pompous arrogant jerk, something like "I work for Eye Bee Em, therefore I are smarter than thou" So I said something like, Hi, My name is Jose, I have experience in Hardware Design..

Meanwhile the rest of my classmates kept on getting better and better at presenting their skills, picking up on what the person before them did wrong, by the time we got to the last row, we were getting pretty interesting introductions, "Hi my name is John, I am a computer Engineer and I hate computers...." was a good one. The purpose of this was to get to know each other so we can pick our team members. This is a crucial step, since the success of the project depends on having a good Team. I don't know if I want to work with friends since that does not necessarily mean we will get work done. I'd rather get with the super smart group that's building a lunar-rover-cell-phone-email-gps-photocopy robot made out of a cerial box and a casio watch. That's the group I am looking for so all I have to do is write a Assembler program for it and let them do the Engineering. Well, maybe not. I do want to get something out of this.

I am not going to lie, I actually look forward to this project thing. I don't know who my Team mates are going to be, or what exactly we are going to make, but it already sounds like a lot of fun.



J.V.

Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day

"The unexamined life is not worth living for man."

-Socrates

Ok, I am back

Ok, I am back

After a long absence I am trying to get back to normal life. School started yesterday and wow, was that a rude awekening. I am working and studying full time, and with the baby it is not easy. But Blogging has been such an awesome experience I am not going to give it up. I think that my posts will get a lot better since I will only have time to write what I really feel in my heart that it's important. So don't give up! if you are one those few that read this blog, I am not giving up my little voice in the web, especially since more and more of my friends and family are reading it. You know who you are, Thank you. Especially my familia in Venezuela. Los Quiero y Aprecio Mucho.

Well, just to give an idea about how busy I am, besides a full time job (40 hours a week) a lovely wife and beautiful baby my schedule looks like this:

CDA -4105 STRUCTURED COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE

This looks like is going to be my favorite class, it relates directly with my job, it would have come in handy if I took it before I started working. But it's ok. The teacher seems like a cool guy.

STA -4821 STOCHASTIC MODELS FOR COMPUTER SCIENCE

This is just a fancy name for good ol' Statistics and Probability. The teacher seems firm but fair. The class is only like 6 people. This is the last Math Course I have to take in my undergraduate degree. But according to the teacher, this is one of the most "troublesome" courses. gulp.

CHM -2045 GENERAL CHEMISTRY I

Ok, So I never liked chemistry when I was in high school, so I waited until my last year in college to take it, this is it, can't really procrastinate any more. This is a freshman course, it's in auditorium with 400 freshmen, 368 of which are girls in skimpy outfits who want to be Doctors or Nurses 70% of which will switch to International Business or Education after they fail this course. It sucks because the teacher does not really have much time to talk to you since he is tired of listening to the same stories time after time. This will be fun. I already had a bad start since I was 30 minutes late to the first lecture. All homework is done online, and all test are taken at the same time. Lovely.

EGNC-4410 ENGINEERING DESIGN I

Designed to deprive seniors of all sleep and sanity this class aims to bond engineers from all fields together by working on a project that harmoniously includes all the engineering disciplines. It just never works that way. But students come out a lot wiser from this course. After two semesters working on the project the proud graduates are left with an invaluable lesson: "Should have picked a Finance Major"

ELRL-3308 LABORATORY I

Being only one credit, this class packs more punch than Mike Tyson, applied labs on circuitry and all that good geeky stuff. We'll see how that goes.

CHML-2045 GENERAL CHEMISTRY I LAB

This is the lab for Chemistry, three freaking hours doing I don't know what.

EGN -4937 PROFESSINAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP B

Once a Month I have a Workshop to teach you how to dress for an interview, how to apply for Graduate school, work in teams, etc. It is pretty good. It's really an scholarship, but the condition is that you must take this class, which benefits you anyway, so it's a win-win. Not a bad deal. I get one credit for this.

Also, I get a credit hour for doing an internship, this is my third semester doing that so that takes care of an elective class. Pretty neat heh?

Well, I better get going. I think the teacher is talking to me, something about a laptop.

J.V.

NTCC

NTCC

3M
American Airlines
Apple
Boeing
IBM
Chevron
Cisco
Dell
General Electric
General Mills
General Motors
IBM
Intel
Hewlett-Packard
Lockheed Martin
Raython
Microsoft
Verizon



All of them looking for Hispanic Engineers. So many people. Miss my family. No sleep.
Great time though.

Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day

The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.

-Socrates

Why Doesn't Anyone Aks Who Actually Runs MySpace?

Another article I found interesting. I was wondering about that site, (since I have profile there) but did not look into it as I have many other things to do. But who the heck are these people? And why doesn't Kamran ever update his blog?

Life is full of mysteries.

To stay or not to stay? Many South Floridians choose not to stay

Besides reading about it in this article, I have noticed that people are changing their mind about Florida. I know some people that are moving out of here. Heck, chances are I might move to a different state after graduation. And who can blame us? S. Fl is too expensive, too crowded and local jobs don't pay that well. Yet, this saddens me. I have grown attached to this piece of land. This is home. I love South Florida. There are so many nice things to say about it. Too bad I am not even a halfway decent writer, otherwise I'd be able to fully describe the vibrant mix that Ft. Lauderdale is. How can I put Las Olas Beach in words? How can I describe the view from the A1A between Oakland Pk and Sunrise Blvd? Or, Breakfast at the pier in Deerfield Beach? No Bookstore in the world matches the Borders in Sunrise next to the Galleria Mall, No Mall like Sawgrass Mills (sorry Mall of America, you are only bigger thanks to Camp Snoopy, this one has more stores) nothing can replace an evening at the Oasis, or Riverfront Park. How can anyone give this up? Not to mention the Florida Panthers, Miami Dolphins, Miami Heat, Florida Marlins, University of Miami. The Ft. Lauderdale Art Museum. I wish I was good enough to write about this places that will forever hold so many fond memories. Even after all its drawbacks, I love this place. This is my home.

Some Random Thoughts

Some Random Thoughts

Thank you Bellsouth

After 15 days of waiting,(no exageration there) and working from my parent's house, bellsouth decided it was time to install DSL in my house, but in it's infinite wisdom, it thought it was best to not to rush things, so I can only connect through the phone jacks downstairs, if I want to have a connection upstairs, I'll have to get the "luxury package 2010" I will only pay $1.99 per byte per second. They are so nice.

Going to Orlando!

Yep, The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (shpe) is having their National Technical and Career Conference in Disney's Coronado Spring resort. It is going to be rough, I know, but I do whatever to get the job done. If hanging out with my FAU buddies in the middle of the best vacation spot in the world is what it takes to put food on the table, I will make the sacrifice. All in the name of work.

Go Fighting Owls!

The best public university in all Palm Beach County. Yeah baby.

Weird Dream

Dreamt that it was snowing in here. I must be having Minnesota flashbacks.

By the way

The weather here is awesome. In case you were wondering.

What's wrong with Coldplay?

Bad, Bad Coldplay, When will record companies get it? You can't win customers by restricting them. That's not, what do the business people call it? Good PR.

That's all folks! We'll be here all week.

J.V.

It's Official

2006 is the year of the Froyd.

My Favorite Posts

My Favorite Posts

I decided to place a link to my favorite posts this year. These posts have a couple of things in common, they all have something to do with Iraq, and they were written in a peculiar manner, I would be home minding my own business and then, I'd get this terrible mind itch, it's like my whole purpose in life is to write about it, I'd sit in
front of my laptop and start typing away, couple of minutes later these posts were born, it was a big burst, like I just trew it up, no edits, no reread, just write the damn thing, add some pictures or some links and there they were. I felt extremely relieved afterwards. It made me feel good.

A Diologe

This is a prime example of that, I just got up a saturday morning, feeling like this conversation had to take place, it had been taking place in my head for a while, so I decided to have the two Jose's have an arguement, I put Jon there because I can be a mean a**hole sometimes.

Communication

I never had the guts to tell that brave soldier that lost his arm in Afghanistan and kept on living like nothing happend how much admiration I have for him, not because he lost an arm, but because the way he lives. He is more alive than some people I know. Just thinking about that brings tears to my eyes. Seriously.

My Reaction to Jarhead the Movie

In this post I happily announce the slow death of Jose in Iraq, he is getting weaker and weaker, fading away in the confines of my memory. Good.

Confessions from the War

You have no idea how much I wanted to share this incident with somebody. I could never tell my fellow soldiers, but now anyone in the internet can know.

Well folks, this is it for now.

Happy New Year.
Be Good to each other.

J.V.

What a strange year this has been

What a strange year this has been

2005.
New Baby.
New Job.
New House.
New Friends.

2006?
Graduate.
Move?
The End of the World?
Who knows.

Student Finds Stolen Thesis by Thinking like a Thief

Student Finds Stolen Thesis by Thinking like a Thief

This is an amazing example of how crazy Graduate School must be. A 43 year old student ended up digging through a dumpster in search of her thumb drive...lessons learned:

1. Back up your data, stupid!
2. Thesis? what the heck is that? It must be hard.

Which brings me to the my next question, what am I going to do with my life? All signs point to graduate school, but I don't know if I should go for a MBA so I can be a manager down the road, or get a MS in Engineering, so I can be more technical and maybe pursue a PHd later? If I ask my Manager he will probably suggest a MBA, If I ask my school advisors they will recommend a MS.

Decisions, decisions...

Some Hard Questions for You to Think about

Some Hard Questions for You to Think about

What is important to you? Why?

Who do you love? Have you told that person that you love them? Today?

What worries you? Will that problem matter in one year? five? one hundred?

What are you doing? Is it important to you? Why are you doing something you don't want to do?

I was about to write that I wish life was simple, but on second thought I don't. I have many problems, many of which you probably wouldn't want to deal with, yet I want life to teach me, to beat me up, to make my laugh and cry.

I don't want to look back and think that I didn't try my best.

I don't want to have regrets when it's my time to check out.

I want my Son to think he had a good Dad, I want my Dad to think he had a good Son.

I want to gain wisdom. Surfing one blog at a time.

What do you want to do?

J.V.

Quote of the day

Quote of the day

"To forget one's purpose is the commonest form of stupidity"


-Friedrich Nietzsche

Is Kurt Vonnegut right?

Is Kurt Vonnegut right?

Your guess is as good as mine

J.V.

Quote of the day

Quote of the day

"Sometimes the quickest way is the longest route"

-Jose Villalta Jr.


Coined today at the Broward Mall parking lot, talking to my little sister.

J.V.

Music 2005

Music 2005

These are my favorite CDs that I listened to this year. I don't normally share my taste in music because I think I have generic (aka pop) taste, but then again, who cares?
Thanks to Johny for making the suggestion and for being a friend... all the way from Spain.

1. Un Metro Cuadrado by Jarabe de Palo

This Spanish rock group has always been my favorite band. I've been a fan since 1999 when I first heard Depende, I credit them with helping me get through Iraq with their Album bonito

2. Mi Sangre by Juanes

What can I say? I like Colombian products. No.... not that type of Colomibian products you dirty minded people.

3. Fijacion Oral Vol 1 by Shakira

Another excellent Colombian import.

4. In between Dreams by Jack Johnson

This is my definition of good music. Started listening to it just recently thanks to my trip to Northern Minnesota, thank you Aimless Ego suspended!

And when I am in my Getto moods

1. Barrio Fino by Daddy Yankee
2. M.I.A.M.I. by Pitbull
3. Red light distric by Ludacris

J.V.

Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."

-Albert Einstein

Earth, Water and Air

Earth, Water and Air

This is the Atlantic Ocean from the A1A between Spanish River and Palmetto Rd in Boca Raton, FL.

J.V.

Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day

"All the problems of the world could be settled easily, if men were only willing to think.”

-Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler

Invention worth mentioning

I am amazed at the creativity of some people. This is why I still have faith in the human race. To take something that's readily available, like cars passing through a section of the road, and convert it into energy? Great Thinking. Peter Hughes gets the very first STOP. THINK! award ever given for inventing a road ramp that uses passing cars to generate power. You can read about it here.
Thanks to slashdot for pointing it out. Slashdot rules!

J.V.

The Most Disputed Wikipedia Articles

The Most Disputed Wikipedia Articles

If you have a bunch of people with different views writing the same article, there will be disagreements. No place like Wikipedia to make people aware of that. Since anyone can edit the articles there will be cases in which there will be attempts to sabotage, or that they will just post flat out wronf info. The good thing is that the users themselves regulate each other. Also, anyone can see the history of an article.
Unlike other reference sources, you can know when you are reading a disputed "fact".
It is possible to make a better decision, or have a better understanding of an issue when you can read the progression of an article. Most times is not so exciting. I guess common sense must be used before you can quote Wikipedia in, let's say, a Research paper. Ummm, maybe that's why I didn't get such a good grade on mine.....

By the way, if you didn't guess it already, I did my paper on Linux. What else? Still, my Proffesor did not like it. I am not sure why, but I am going to get a straight answer, he was evasive when I aproached him, I know that grading somebody else's writing is subjective to the grader's opinion. I know that TA's get overloaded with work and nobody wants to read all 20 pages of "research" on beat-up research topics. But still, I spent all summer making my papter perfect and some guy looked at it for 10 minutes and decided that a C+ was good enough, I am not bitter or anything, anyway, on with the list.


The following is taken out of a Wired magazine article:

SCI-FI

Example: Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. Are Ani and Respirator Breath actually two separate characters? When someone decided no and merged the two pages, a Forceful hullabaloo ensued. In time, the Jedi's bio was shortened to just one terse sentence and a link to the Sith Lord himself.

Other contested entries: Should the fiery Balrog in Lord of the Rings have wings? Does the novel/videogame Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire deserve as much prominence as the six films even though it never actually was, you know, a film?

HOT-BUTTON ISSUES

Example: Scientology. Even before Tom Cruise's on-air meltdown, this "pseudo-science" - as it has been called on Wikipedia - has long captivated site regulars. Three separate links are dedicated to -archived discussions on topics ranging from whether it's a cult to which celebrities are followers. Long story short: John Travolta still in, Jerry Seinfeld not so much.
Other contested entries: Is creationism credible? And (yikes!) are there examples of pedophilia that are legitimate relationships between adult and child?

POP CULTURE

Example: Celebrity birthdays. Nothing gets people's blood boiling like whether J.Lo was born in 1969 or 1970. After some vehement back-and-forth, fans dug up the true date from the police report filed after her infamous Manhattan nightclub shooting incident. (Answer: '69.)
Other contested entries: Was André the Giant actually 6'10", 7'5", or somewhere in between? Should the entry for Al Gore's new Current TV network be allowed to read like a press release?

TECHNOLOGY

Example: Ajax (programming language).In August, one user launched an all-out assault on this entry for asynchronous JavaScript and XML. If that is, indeed, what it is. The term was coined earlier this year by engineer Jesse James Garrett, and what it means (or should mean) is still unsettled. Eventually the assailant was temporarily blocked and stopped contributing.
Other contested entries: Is a blog a Web-based application or a static file? And is Web 2.0 old news or a new paradigm? If so, can it be explained in simple English?


Credit goes to Erik Malinowski who wrote the article for Wired magazine, I copied without his permission, I'm sure he won't mind the free publicity.

J.V.

Save the Chilndren, Switch to Linux

The one question you need to ask yourself besides all the nonsense we worry about endlessly is Have I accepted Linux as my personal Operating System?

I know what you're thinking, I may be preaching to the choir so to speak, but if you have not. Then let me give you a list of reasons to switch. For those of you who don't know what Linux is. Let me just say that Linux is to Microsoft Windows what Wikipedia is to The Encyclopedia Britannica. The only difference is that The Enc. Britannica is a godd product and Windows is, um, not so respectable.

1. Linux is free.
2. Linux is Open Source which means that anyone can look at the code and understand how it works and can edit it to make it better.
3. If you don't care to change anything, that's fine, Linux works well the way it is.
4. Linux is Cool.
5. Linux is forcing Microsoft to compete, which is good for us the end users.
6. Linux keeps getting better thanks to all the new users they get daily.
7. Linux runs faster.
8. There is plenty of help online in countless forums and documentation pages.
9. If you ask a Linux person a Linux question he or she will go to extremes to help you.
10. Switching to Linux will make you a better person, give you self-confidence, you will re-grow your hair, lose weight and your love life will be amazing.
11. Switching to Linux will piss off Bill Gates.
12. You can ask me any Linux question and I will help you, refer to # 9.

the internet gods

They have demanded pictures in sacrifice. I must comply. As soon as I find my camera.
I don't know where half my stuff is, I will be mad if I lost it, but then again Christmas is coming soon....

J.V.

So much to do

So much to do

I made it to Florida safe and sound. Working right now. Will write more later.
It feels like I am waking from a long dream called Minnesota into the brutal reality that South Florida is. It's all good, it's a reality that I recognize. I was a little surprised the first time somebody drove 1 3/4 inches from my rear bumper doing 75 miles per hours in I-95 with their bright headlights on. But after a while I got back in my confort zone, and you treat it like an everyday thing because it is. I was saddened to see a lot of street signs torn down, and there are fewer trees around, you can tell there was a hurricane here . But this is home, and I work here. I can work from home, but I have an office in Boca that I can use, I am in that office right now, and I must say that it's nicer than the one I had before. Sorry Rochester, but I got my own window now! haha! I can think of a few people that have been in this company years longer than I that don't have a window in their office.I don't have to put any layers on when I step outside, I almost did that this morning, out of habit. But I will be cured of that by tomorrow.

J.V.

Trippin'

Trippin'

The only reason why Amirah is still alive is because my wife would never forgive me. She has been a terrible cat this whole trip, there was no way of calming her down, she kept on fighting Mohamed the other cat. Oh, what a trip, a Cavalier completely filled up with our possesions, two crazy cats and yours truly, I have a big scratch on my neck and my right arm. Amirah was very close to being trown off the window..But I couln't come up with a good story.

Honey I'm home!....Cat? What Cat?...I don't recall any cats...This scratch? Oh! this is from the strip club...

I am keeping the damn cats.

So, I'm resting at a hotel in Kentucky, all I have is Tennesee and Georgia to go and then I'll be in Florida.

Wikipedia and Open Source

What does the Register have against Wikipedia?
This article is yet another attack on my favorite website.
I have read the articles, but have not gotten to a conclusion yet.
Can one say that Wikipedia is not a reliable source of information? Or is there an agenda agaisnt it by the online mag The Register.
I was afraid some story like this will show up eventually.

My first impulse is to say that the Register must have something against it. Let's dig into this and see what comes up. There's always a story behind the story.

Ok, that's all I got. Till the next one

J.V.

Good bye Minnesota

Good bye Minnesota

I am leaving now, as soon as I close my laptop I am getting in my car and driving back home. Good bye for now Rochester. I shall return.

J.V.

Change is Good

Change is Good

Here I am, should be doing stuff around the apartment to get it ready, but I am tired of working, I am stopping soon. I have done enough. I want to see my family so bad. I miss them dearly. I miss my fat talking Monkey.

I have found a new mission for this blog. I want to challenge the people who vist this site to stop and question everything they know. If I can cause that grey matter between your ears to spark an intelligent thought, I have done my job. If I can change your mind about something, not because I said it, but because you THOUGHT about it, investigated it, and came to a Conclusion only after a careful analysis, then my blog has accomplished its mission.

Everyday I learn something new about myself. I have discovered who I am (again) after this trip. I will attempt to give you the world through my eyes. These very eyes that have seen the beauty of the Mississippi headwaters in December, but also the ugly face of despair in Iraq. I still believe in us. I still think that man can be better. I don't believe in any political system. I don't believe in anarchy. I am not a liberal. I am not a conservative, I don't believe in labels either, as a matter of fact, if you were to stereotype me as a Marine you'd be wrong, as a Venezuelan, you'd be wrong too. ditto for: American, Engineer, Floridian, Minnesotan, Computer Geek, insane, normal, hispanic, immigrant. Yet, I have traits associated with all the items in that list. My point. I cannot be defined with a word. Not even my name is unique, I am named after my Dad.

I love to think, I love to read. I love to solve problems. I love to write. I love to accomplish things. I love being happy. Above all I love my family.

Some things are going to change around here. If you don't like your point of view being challenged then I recommend that you type a different url in your browser and don't come back here ever again. If you'd like to discuss your view of the world here in a civilized manner, you are more than welcome to do that here. In fact, you are encouraged.

Oh, about Bemidji, I don't have the balls to publish my first draft of this posts, but let me thank you all for being so nice to me, no one called the INS. You are far too kind.

Froyd and Jon, you rule! Kamran, you can stop telling the abulance story now, I hope that this marks a new beginning for the Jose-Bemidji People relationship. I want to see you all again, next time I am bringing in the Calvary (Martha and Monkey) Amy thanks for going beyond nice. Natasjia, Julie, Jessica, Grubbs, Josh, Emily, Bill and his wife, all the dudes that I played Nintendo with at the froydstravaganza. It was a pleasure. If I said something stupid to you, please do forgive me.

Thank you all for reading this blog when you could be doing something useful. God bless you for that.

Love

Jose

IT IS TOO FREAKING COLD IN THIS PLACE!!!!

IT IS TOO FREAKING COLD IN THIS PLACE!!!!

Why on earth would anyone want to live in a place where it gets this cold????? It's -8 degrees Farenheit, for crying out loud! This is crazy

President Carter

He just appeared on the Daily Show, he's a good man.

Linux

Is making me mad, I have been trying to get my Thinkpads wireless card to work for a long time, see, this is what I love and hate about Linux, everything is a challenge, a learning experience, an oportunity to grow my technical skills, this is cool for a guy who can use those skills to make a living, but when all I want is for my WIRELESS CARD TO WORK! it is not, don't get me wrong, I am all about open source, this post is being edited using firefox browser running SuSe Linux, but, it is frustrating when every little thing has to be a hack, why can't it be easy like Windows?

WORK

Lots of it, I have a lot to do, not to mention the fact that I have to pack my stuff and write me reports for school

FAU

Florida Atlantic University
Can't wait to go back, or maybe I can, after reading Kamran's blog entry for today, I don't look forward to that.

Fun fact about Minnesota #4465

With all this cold, it's really easy to shock the cats with ecstatic electricy, not like I do it on purpose, but I laugh when Amirah gets mad at me after I shock her. hehehehe! anyway...got to go.

J.V.

Food for thought

Food for thought

Have you ever asked a question that goes something like "Why do we do thing this way?" and the answer was "because that's how it's always been done" is that good enough for you? Are you satisfied with that answer?

Do you know why the Enter Key on your computer keyboard used to be called return? Because of the days of typewriters, that was the key to return the carriage to the beginning of a new line. The name just stuck, for years computers have had a return key that doesn't return anything.

Do you know why do you believer what you believe? Do you have evidence for this? Or do you believe it because somebody important, or someone you admire told you to believe it. Do you think that if I am a Christian I am right, but If I were a Budhist or Hindu I was wrong and therefore going to hell? Why? what do you base those beliefs in? Think about that. How do you know what you know? How do you judge what you are going to believe and what you are not?

One last thing:

rea·son
n.

1. The basis or motive for an action, decision, or conviction. See Usage Note at because. See Usage Note at why.
2. A declaration made to explain or justify action, decision, or conviction: inquired about her reason for leaving.
3. An underlying fact or cause that provides logical sense for a premise or occurrence: There is reason to believe that the accused did not commit this crime.
4. The capacity for logical, rational, and analytic thought; intelligence.
5. Good judgment; sound sense.
6. A normal mental state; sanity: He has lost his reason.
7. Logic. A premise, usually the minor premise, of an argument.

faith

1. Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing.
2. Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence. See Synonyms at belief. See Synonyms at trust.
3. Loyalty to a person or thing; allegiance: keeping faith with one's supporters.
4. often Faith Christianity. The theological virtue defined as secure belief in God and a trusting acceptance of God's will.
5. The body of dogma of a religion: the Muslim faith.
6. A set of principles or beliefs.

I hope I don't get burned at the stake for this one....


Love

J.V.

Today's Update

Today's Update

Current Status

Today Martha and Anthony flew home to Florida, I am presently sitting in front of the couch, got home 10 minutes ago, would have kept on working but my text editor kept on freezing up on me, it is the first time in my life that my Unix box freezes on me, it was like Windows all over again...so in frustration I drove home to an empty apartment, I've got a pot of Mac'n Cheese cooking,hmmm, yummmi!!! and I've got Comedy Central on TV, right now "Drawn Together" is playing, but I am waiting on Jon Stewart's Daily Show. Got a lot of things to do before I can head home.

Unprepared

My lack of cold weather clothes is starting to get to me. These days the weather is not getting warmer than 30 degrees and all I have is an Army fleece jacket and a little windbreaker, no gloves, no scarf, no nothing, It's starting to suck, but, I still enjoy watching the snow flakes fall, it's hypnotic...so relaxing.

Interruption

Just made a big mess in the Kitchen, on a completely unrelated note: Martha, I miss you so much!!!

del.icio.us

This thing is awesome, I've found so many good sites, If I only had more time...

More later

J.V.

Going Home Soon!

Going Home Soon!

I can't believe that I am going to be in Florida in less than 3 weeks. That means going back to school, going back to 1 hour commutes each way, going back to Boca Raton the most materialistic place I've ever seen, back to the Beach! The Strip, The Variety, good restaurants, Latin food, Latin music, Latin people being loud, Cuban coffee (aka liquid crack)

Oh Florida!

Oh the mighty Rain! The Road Rage, The Humidity, The People, so cool, so beautiful, some shallow, some smart, some street smart, the 90 year olds doing 10mph on the highway, the ruthless amoral criminals that go by the name of "lawyers", the celebrities, the pro-atheletes, the hustlers, the dealers, the gangsters and the wannabe gangsters, the Cartels, Russian, Colombian, Cuban and Jamaican, The New Yorkers *sigh*, The Cubanos, The Italians, The Haitians, Dominicans, Mexicans, my fellow Venezuelans, the Snowbirds from Quebec and Toronto that come during the winter (I can't blame you anymore, I think I understand you now), the crazy Jamaicans, the Trinitarians, Chinese, Indians from India and from here, All we have in common is that we call ourselves Floridians, (except the New Yorkers, they all claim to be New Yorkers even if they moved to FL when they were Two-year olds) all of us live fused together in the same land we call home, South Florida, how I miss thee, I can't wait to go back...

Most of all I miss my Family and friends, you know who you are, but I will be leaving the new friends I've made in Minnesota. I will miss this place, the least I can say about MN is that I've met some decent people, people who are real, who look at life in a fresh new way, people that Think, Nice people. Minnesota, I have nothing but love for you, but I am going home.

Love


J.V.

This is Strange

This is Strange

Here's a little list of books that I have started to read, really liked, and for no reason at all just stopped reading them without reaching the end:

Tommyknockers by Stephen King

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger

The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King (Stopped at Vol.V (sorry Caro))

Yes, I just put a paranthesis embedded in another parenthesis, got a problem?

How to solve it by G. Polya

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenace by Robert M. Pirsig

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

Excuses, Excuses

I hate not finishing what I start, is just that my life is so chaotic that if something distracs me away from a book for more than a couple of days I find it impossible to get back to the book. This list is strange because these are books that I really enjoyed especially the last two, I'd say they were life changing books, and yet, I can't bring myself to start them over again, I'd like to point out that these are the exception rather than the rule, and I plan on finishing them someday.

I swear!

J.V.

Thanksgiving Plans

Thanksgiving Plans

Tonight

Going to take everyone to the movies, we're still trying to agree on one, so far the votes are SAW II (3 votes) Chicken Little (1 1/2 votes)

Tomorrow

Martha has this Turkey that has been Marinating since last Wednsday, it should be completely dissolved by now. I am going to spend all day being Thankful for being alive.

Black Friday

Ever wonder what type of person goes to the Mall on a day like this? My wife is that type, she wants to go to the Mall, not any mall, no sir, the one and only Mall of America, so I will be one those guys that day following their wives while they look at every item in every window in every store of the mall. Thank God for Barnes and Noble, that's where I'll be.

Saturday

No idea what I'll do.

Sunday

Go to Church, then relax.

I will probably write more as the weekend progresses. Take care people. Be good to each other.

Love

J.V.

Life is Good

Life is Good

Two things I enjoy about life:

1. Coming home from work to see my wife and my little one.

2. Talking to good friends and family, It's awesome to keep in touch those few people who you have known for years and still keep in touch even if it's only once in a while. You know who you are, thanks for making my life better.


J.V.

Back to the Real World

Back to the Real World

Communication is important

Army life reminds me of the litte things that make a big difference, like being able to get your point accross without room for misinterpretation. I learned that lesson the hard way, of course. In the Marines I had to learn how to listen, and how to talk, in the Army I had to learn how to communicate, I had a Captain in Iraq, who was from Mississippi, I suspect that he was fooled by my heavy accent, and he didn't think I was as capable as a native English speaker, as wrong as his attitude may seem, he may have a point, being able to express one's ideas is paramount if one wants to get anything done as a group bigger than two people. I have tried to master that obstacle to the best of my ability, but here in Minnesota there are many soldiers who can't understand what I am saying, so I get a lot of opportunities to work on that. The best Communications teacher is marriage, oh yes, being married tought me many lessons about that. 99.9% of all our fights have been because of this, one person assumes that what he or she thinks is obvious, while their partner is thinking something completely different, this applies to all aspects of the relationship, if a couple can master how to properly communicate they have mastered most of their issues...if anyone out there can figure out how to do that please let me know, until then I will continue to get pounded in the head with a mullet.

A true Hero

I know one person that I admire and respect but that I will never have the guts to say so to his face, He's a personal hero and an inspiration.
There's a guy in my National Guard Unit who is a disabled veteran from Afghanistan, he was a member of a Special Forces Team (green berets) that got hit with a cluster bomb by accident. Friendly fire is the most accurate fire says Murphy's Law. His Team lost many men, He lost his right arm. But unlike many veterans I know, he decided to live his life the best to the fullest. I admire the fact that he continues to work in the Army even though he was crippled, six months after losing an arm and almost losing his legs, this person was skiing, he still runs, does push ups and can pass the Army's Physical Fitness Test, not only that, but he never complains about it, he just drives on, I heard that he was going to get a job as a ROTC cadre at a college but the instructors thought that a disabled veteran would scare people away from the Army, WTF! I think that was so much BS, but I am glad that our company got him, people like that are true heroes, not because they went to war, or because they got wounded, (after all, it does not take heroism to take a bullet, they kind of come your way automatically) the hard part is how you act afterwards, the biggest enemy is the one within, this individual could have easily cocooned into a self-pity state and who could blame him? it happens all the time, he could have turned bitter, depressed, and those would have been "normal" reactions to his luck, but he decided that he was not going to let that change the way he lived. I admire that dedication. He's an ispiration to me and should be for everyone, what's your excuse for not doing what you want to do? A lot of times we like to put the blame of our misery on God, the devil,our parents, the president, society, the goverment,liberals, conservatives, rich people,criminals, big corporations, etc, etc. But we fail to realise that the biggest obstacle, our biggest enemy is withing ourselves. I am the first one that could use my advice. I have quit doing thigs that I really wanted to do because I thought they were too hard, but it can be done, all it takes is the right aproach to the problem.

What else is going on

It's good to be back from my weekend Drill, I am doing good, Anthony is growing up so fast. He went to the Doctor last Friday, he weights 15lbs! That's a big baby. Martha is doing good, we're happy Mayi and Esteban are here visiting. They are fun to be around. I wish my sister could have made it up here, but you can't win them all I guess.

Ok Everybody, that's all I have, stay tuned for the next installation of The King's Own

Love

J.V.

Some random thoughts

Some random thoughts

Weird Dream Last Night

Last night had a dream that Anthony was a computer chip. And Martha was yelling at me because He was crying too much, and it was my fault, becuase I programmed him wrong. I think I've been working too many hours.

Bemidji

Was looking at a map today and I noticed that Bemidji is further North than Fargo! So, now I really want to go, I need to see what is like to live that far up, away from the rest of the planet. I can't wait, I know it's going to be an interesting trip. Minnesotans never cease to amaze me. I am seriously going to miss it when I go back to Hurricane-Land a.k.a Florida.

New life goal

As if I didn't have enough things to do, I've found a new calling, the world of Open Source, I've decided to contribute code to the Linux effort, the reasons? Completely selfish ones, I want to prove myself, I want to have the satisfaction that I helped the Linux community. That my name will be in Linux boxes all over the world, would anyone else see my name in there and care? probably not, does that matter? not to me.

Martha

She loves it here, doesn't want to go back to FL. This is the last thing I expected her to say, after all, she's was born in NYC.

Anthony

I swear he looks bigger everyday, I can notice the difference when I get back from work. Before I know it, he's going to be asking for my car keys and dating advice.

So many books, so little time

Ok, Why is it that I never read the books I buy and I never buy the books I read? I have a serious problem, I can't control my bibliophilia. Next book in my list:
The Guns, Germs and Steel: Fates of Human Societies If I ever finish the book I'm reading.

IBM culture

I want to write a bunch of stuff in here, but time I am running out of time because I have a....

Sucky weekend coming up

It's that time of the month....Monthly National Guard training, I'm going to spend the weekend away from home while Martha gets to spend time with her sibbling who are visiting. That reminds me, I have to pack my crap.

I can't wait to see you Esteban and Mayi! To Everyone else, have an excellent weekend, be good to each other.

J.V.

It's Snowing!

It's Snowing!

Cool beans man.

J.V.

Weekend Update

Weekend Update

Chicago

Just got back from the Windy City, I saw Kamran, my old friend from the Marines, and I met fellow blogger Awkward Silence. We visited the Art Institute of Chicago,ate Chicago style pizza and talked about the good ol' days. We walked all over the place, Anthony made new friends, oh man, It was a good weekend.

Book of the week

I am reading Eric Raymond's The Cathedral and the Bazaar, the book that helped the Open Source project get off the ground.

Iraq

Like this paiting? This is Jason, a friend and a member of my unit in Iraq, through the eyes of Steve Mumford. Yesterday I saw his new book, Baghdad Journal: An artirst in occupied Iraq , and he mentions Bravo Co. 1st/124th Infantry of the Florida National Guard. There's an essay about the Lost Platoon, one of the three platoons in our company. Even though I am not mentioned explicitly it talks about many of my friends. I was impressed by the quality of his work, Steve did not spend that much time with our unit, yet he was able to write a good description of Bravo company's days in Ramadi, and he's a decent painter too.
The Essay is online, you can read it here



More updates later. Stay tuned.

J.V.

WE'RE IN CHICAGO!

WE'RE IN CHICAGO!

My wife and I decided to come spend the weekend here....6 hours ago, so here we are, we're going to see the obligatory sites, and then we're going to visit Kamran and his little people. More later.

J.V.

The Marine Corps turns 230 today

The Marine Corps turns 230 today

Speaking of Jarheads, today is the Marines birthday, if you know a Marine, buy him a beer, 230 years is a long time.




Semper Fidelis

J.V.

So what do you think about the War?

So what do you think about the War?

I hate war, I don't like the whole concept, The Violence, the uglyness, Loss of Life, etc. I wonder if having U.S. Soldiers in Iraq is accomplishing something in the war of terrorism. But I do Agree with Eric Raymond.

We must fight Terrorism, Religious fanaticism and absolutism.

We must Realize that our Civilization is worth defending.

We must Realize that no adjustment in American Policy will ever stop Terrorism.

We must not become become what we fight.

We must use Reason and Truth as our Keenest Weapons.

This is what I get from reading An Anti-Idiotarian Manifesto I know that these days support for President Bush is down, I don't care, this is what I think it's the right thing to do. Some things are worth fighting for, even if the fighting sucks. But we must be careful to fight the right enemy and not to become what we are fighting. We should be better than that, if we use torture, commit war crimes and hate in the name of stopping haters, what makes us different from them?

J.V.

My Reaction to Jarhead the Movie

My Reaction to Jarhead the Movie

I have a bias

Liked it a lot. But for personal reasons. It took me back to other times, when I used to call myself a Marine, Devil Dog, Jarhead, Grunt, Mortarman. 0341.
For everyone else, you'll get the same reaction by watching Full Metal Jacket or Platoon But for me it was different.

I am one and I am many

For those of you that know me, you only know a version of me, the Jose that was born and raised in Venezuela, the Jose that you see at church on Sundays, the one that you go to school with, The one at work, Then there's Jose the husband, Father, cousin, friend, None of these versions are fake, as far as I know, they are me. The real me, all of them.

But there's also Jose the Marine, Jose in Iraq. The Jose that knows the alleys of Ramadi like the back of his hand, the Jose that can strip an M-16 blidfolded, that can recite the nomenclature of the M224 60mm Mortar by heart. The Jose that shot his Rifle at people who he never met before and would otherwise have no reason to shoot them. That Jose is still in the desert. He is still looking out for IEDs and still keeps an eye out for anything that looks suspicious. But, I am glad that Jose is dying.




When I got back from Iraq I decided to put all these events behind me and never talk about it. So that's what I did, or tried to do, but little by little I told a story here and there, and I noticed that it was liberating. It's like getting a big weight off your shoulders, just getting it out, talking about it.

The only thing that ever worried me was the dreams, I wouln't call them nightmares because they were not always unpleasant, sometimes I'd be joking around with old pals, sometimes I'd place friends from School out there with me. Sometimes I was just there, like any other day in 2003, I'd wake up not knowing where I was, this used to happen often, but they went away after a couple of months, then they'd go away completely until something triggered it, usually CNN News coverage of the war, seeing a burned out car, or the video of the guy taken hostage would garantee a visit to Iraq that night. The last time I had a dream like that was a couple of weeks ago when a friend of mine forwarded a clip of a carbomb going off at a gate checkpoint. It was an umpleasant dream, but I knew it was coming.

I thought Jarhead would take me back the night I saw it, but it didn't. I went back in time when I watched it, but I did not dream about Iraq. This is good news, it seems like a lot of things are fading away, and it is because I've been getting a lot of things off my chest in this blog. This is my way of dealing with it. My self-therapy, my cure, medicine.

I have confessed my feeling of guilt, guilt of being alive when others did not come back, my confusion at the validity of this war, my complete respect and admiration for the members of the Armed Forces, particulary the Marines, but the Reservist and Guardman that serve this nation deserve a lot more credit than they get. I have talked about my feeling towards Religion, how fanatism has destroyed lives. But I wish to elavorate on that. I have a bone to pick there. How can we be decieved so easily? I see Religion in a different way now, I was numbed from seeing so much pain and suffering, but I'm starting to get my feelings back, I feel grateful for being alive another day, and I feel good that I live here. I am glad that the Jose that lived in Iraq is just a memory, there's no reason for him to be here, none of you will ever meet him. Because he's not there anymore. I am not him. He is not me.




J.V.

Latest Update

Latest Update

Florida

My parents finally have power, now that they do, they realized that there's no cable or internet. Oh No!!! How can they live like that? I feel for them. I truly do. Also, they tell me that the usual 45 minute commute to work now takes about two hours, due to the total absence of traffic lights, as if South Florida Traffic was not bad enough before Wilma.

Baby

Little Anthony is a fat baby, he eats all the freaking time, his Mom spoils him too much, but what am I going to do?

IBM

I am still employed, they haven't figured me out yet.

Wife

Is looking better every day, today we're hiring a sitter and going out just the two of us. Going to see that movie jarhead, if you're wondering why would I want to watch such movie, refer to my profile.

Book

Still working on it. Like it.

Blog

I realize that even though blogging is easy, writing is not, I want to put out good stuff, but it takes a lot more time and effort that I'm willing to take away from the other things that I do. Having said that, I still plan on writing more diologes on the subjects that haunt me.

My Space

I am having a blast learning HTML, I din't even know I was learning it until I put that link to w3schools , it is so easy, and there are plenty of tutorials out there like the one I just mentioned, just google HTML.

How to improve your Blog
Excellent website that list the top ten mistakes bloggers make, I read it and realized that my blog pretty much sucks. But that does not stop me from trying.

Computers are easy
Four years ago my little sister knew more about computers than I did, and frankly, I have not learned much in school, and yes, my Major is Computer Engineering, In FAU I learned Math and Physics, that was a little hard, They show you the basics of Programming, but they don't teach it to you, You learn by actually doing it, once you've done it, it is not hard, writing code is easy, being a good programmer is not.
I read blogs from people like Joel Spolsky (that's where I saw the article on the top ten mistakes) that talk about the Art and Science of Computer Programming, But that's not even what I do, Computer Programming and Engineering are two different things, Programming is telling the Computer what to do, Engineering is creating things that have never being done before, I rather do the latter.To me Programming is just another tool that Engineers use to get things done. I am not an Engineer, not yet anyway, but when I get there, I hope to God that I don't end up in some IT shop in a bank fixing Networks (yawn) I want to be in a company that's going to change the world.

Funny enough, I have learned a lot of "Theory" just by surfing the net, the links that I think are good enough to share are listed here. The rest I've learned by my limited experience as an intern. My point is this. Computers are easy. A lot of people mystify them to make themselves look smarter, well, it is not that hard, even the complicated stuff gets easy once you have done it a couple of times. Math is hard, Science is hard. Being a good writer is really hard. Computers? Not really.


J.V.