All good so far

I've been able to keep up my confidence so far, everything seems to be going great. Really enjoying my professors and I have two wonderful friends who have been crucial to my success thus far(I'm very lucky!) As of now I've been putting some effort into getting a summer internship, we'll see what comes up. I wish I could say more about what has been going on but school is quite consuming of my time. I'm still working off my lazy habits; I used this week's exams as an excuse to slack off on next week. With a 4 day weekend I'll play catch-up. Meeting a friend over the weekend to get most of next week's work out of the way. After this semester I'll be able to really gauge what I can expect in the future.

Finals Week

Today marked the first day of finals week. My finals include Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, Engineering Physics, and Computer Science I (C++). Today I finished the Differential test, and tomorrow is Engineering Physics. For whatever reason I am really relaxed, who knows why.

I was getting sick of studying this past weekend and took an hour to write a little paper that introduces the basics of C programming, download-able here (pdf warning). It's nothing special, and I don't intend to distribute it like I did with my AVR screencast tutorial. Something fun to do I guess.

Studying!

Nothing really interesting happening, just studying a lot these past 2 weeks. Received a 96% on my Physics test, but I have no idea how I'll do on the Linear Algebra test this Monday. It's not so much knowing the content as knowing all the terminology, which is a pain. Three different ways to represent the same thing, along with each having it's own terminology as to how to do the same thing. Oh well, just gotta keep studying.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Well, at least for next week! Received a 88% of my latest Calc 3 test, which is pretty good. I have a feeling that it'll be hard to get any lower than a B, but I really need to get enough to receive an A in the class. Tomorrow I receive my Physics and Statistics tests back, pretty sure I'll do fine.

First round of Exams are over

Last week I received all my test grades back. First the good news, 94% on my Calc 3 test. Hurrah to Vectors! Now on to Physics...64%! 

When I saw this test score, I had this feeling of grief that I really screwed up. This was made even worse because I snuck a view at someone elses test grade as I walked in, 84% on his. As we went over the test, I realized one reason why I did so bad, I wrote the answers to one question on the wrong part of the test, and he never marked it off. Thankfully he allowed me to get the extra 12 points for it, boosting my grade to a 76%. Unfortunately, I discovered two days later that the equations sheet I was handed for the test was missing half the equations! I lost at least 5% of my test grade due that. I showed this to my professor the next day, but he showed me in the top right corner that it said "Page 2 of 2." Although it isn't exactly fair, I don't hold it against him for not compensating for the lack of that half of the equations sheet that everyone else was able to use. I gained a life lesson from this experience, I need to be very proactive about making sure that I get what I need, to check these things over, and I know I can make up for it in future tests (afterall, my test score was 3rd highest in class, not counting those lost points from missing half the equation sheet). Furthermore, he did provide an extra credit lab that I was able to complete for an extra 5 points (which essentially, or at least for the most part makes up for that test goof up). Overall my professor is pretty cool, and I enjoy his humor.

I received a 88% on my Statistics test, and have an A in that class. I still have to play catch-up on the papers for Art class (behind one week), and need to finish 3 sections of Math homework tomorrow, along with finding time for Physics. Overall, this semester is doing fine, and although I'm pretty pressed for time during the week, I am enjoying it. All this commotion is helping pass the time, 5 weeks have already passed!

I have some plans for the new XMEGA 8-Bit AVRs coming out sometime later this year, or early next year. I'm going to limit my classes as much as possible next semester, probably will only take a C++ programming course, Engineering Physics 2, Introduction to Linear Algebra, and Introduction to Differential Equations. I hope time isn't constrained for that semester, I really want to play with my microcontrollers!

Good News!

Sparkfun's GLCD

The other day I was awarded, by Mr. Harrill, the "Outstanding Student Award" for Electronics and Computer Technology. I was honored by him two days ago at the Meyer theater and my family attended (including my sister's boyfriend). This honor is definitely a resume booster. On top of that, I received a call the same day for a potential job. I was out when I was called, and had to call back. I go in for an interview on Thursday, after all my finals are finished. I'm really excited, if I am able to get the job this will be my first real job in electronics. I also receive my Electronics and Computer Technology Associates Degree after I finish this semester, and I expect to have at most one B for this semester (in Sociology). This has been a great week, and I'm really happy.

In addition to all the important things, I also have finally gotten a GLCD to work properly. Mr. Harrill purchased one a few weeks ago and unfortunately it only came with a single page for a datasheet that gave a potentially wrong pinout. The darn thing wouldn't work after 3 hours, and after extensive debugging of the program I checked the wiring over again. I happened to touch the controllers on the back of the GLCD and noticed they were extremely hot. After that fiasco I went and bought my own off of Sparkfun since they provided heavy documentation (to note I was the one who told Mr. Harrill to buy the faulty GLCD from Mouser). The Sparkfun GLCD used the same controllers and after plugging everything in the program worked great. As of now it is a very simplistic program that displays a line (simply to test the thing). I intend on making a quick picture displaying program for it after I finish with finals this upcoming week. It should be great for the presentations we (Mr. Harrill, Alex and I) do for the Electronics section at various High Schools. Mr. Kelly and Alex suggested a simple game, which I probably will end up doing. A simple scroller where you control a horizontally stationary sprite that navigates through a path, similar to this.

Over this weekend I have to wrap up studying and any leftover homework. If we manage to box up most of the lab (for the lab renovations) before the weekend I will be able to finally start reading K&R. Ugh, 8 classes with 8 tests next week. Thankfully I only have 19 credits next Fall semester, the free time for personal projects and a possible job will be amazing. Below is my schedule for the Fall,

ART-155-01 (13466) Art Appreciation
MECH-102-01 (13902) Manufacturing Processes
MATH-162-02 (14052) Introduction to Statistics
PHY-251-01 (14065) Engineering Physics I
MATH-271-01 (14061) Calculus III


Don't mind the Art Appreciation, that's for the Computer Engineering Degree. After all, I need to be "well rounded." :)

87.7~%!

Earlier today I received my score for my math test. To my joy, I received 79 points out of a total of 90 points. As much as I hate getting a B on my math test, I'm still glad that it wasn't the train wreck that I was somewhat concerned with. For this quarter, my tests average to a 93.4% for each test. Those are scores I can be confident with. Mrs. Shepard said that this section was the hardest covered, so I expect better performance in the future. A part of me is a bit regretful in not studying harder, or even completing all the homework. I could have easily achieved a solid A if I had studied my trig identities and did what was assigned (in fact, I am confident that I would have received around 100% if that was true). Mathematics relies on two things, perfection, and a solid grasp of the underlying concepts. Thankfully my experience goofing off in High School has proven to be a valuable lesson.

In high school I didn't care much, and much like a calculator only learned the methods to solving problems. By not understanding the concepts behind the work I did, I suffered both in problem solving, that required a strong grasp on how to use these ideas, and suffered in building upon that knowledge when new concepts were introduced (if you don't understand what you are doing now, its really hard to understand anything else!). College for me was a nice restart, both in electronics and math. If there's one thing I make sure of, it's that I understand what I am doing! (although my mind does wonder in Electronics 2...)