Checksum Arcanius

Today was my first day oif work at Microvision. I filled out a lot of paperwork, took the tour, and actually did some testing. Found a problem too, but due to NDA’s galore, I don’t think I’m going to tell you anything more about that. Things went well overall.

Tomorrow, I’m spending most of the day in the photo lab printing up my final project.

And now, on to the title piece. My brother’s graduation from college and Steel Conflict are the same weekend. I almost gave up the graduation to attend the battlebot-like event, but I talked to Tim today, who is heading the battle bot project, and thought some more, and so I will go to my brother’s graduation and miss the first half of the competition.

The math midterm indeed did not go well – I got another 77. I can still pull an A- in the class by doing 140 or better out of 150 on the final. I plan on it.

Keeping it short and simple, since so much is going on.

Dave let me know about an internship opening at Microvision, maker of heads up display systems and barcode canning systems. The position is as a software tester, and I believe I am well-qualified despite my not having completed a computer science degree. With the good word of Dave, I already have an interview scheduled tomorrow at 1:30. I need to get some sleep so I’m not too much of a zombie then, but tonight Blockbuster did a physical inventory and then I played some counterstrike, where I started out slow but picked things up till I was taking out an entire team of terrorists (5 players) on my own after the rest of my team died… accusations of cheating quickly followed. The only way to deal with that really is to agree that you are cheating, but not in so few words. Then they mostly shut up.

I had an appointment with Kent Chaplin, of Chaplin’s Automotive Group, today, but he had to cancel, so I will have to arrange another time to show him the video (available at the TRC’s Website) and hit him up with my plan for Subaru and/or Volkswagon to donote $50,000 or so to the TRC.

I don’t know why I just pulled an all-nighter. I started when Bob asked me to post pictures from the regional. Then I just never got around to going to bed. Mostly, I read posts on Chief Delphi’s forums for the entire night. There was some use in that, but with a Calc midterm on Wednesday, and a photography project due the same day, and finals eminent, I really could have used the sleep instead.

But thats not the big news. The big news is that the Titan Robotics Club won the 2004 Pacific Northwest Regional of the FIRST Robotics Competition. The final matchup was grueling – it included a tie, a loss, a win, 4 false starts, and finally another win. The opponents were very worthy indeed, but in the last match they had broken down and were unable to make repairs in time.

Go to the Titan Robotics Website, winner of the Website award at the PNW regional two years in a row, for pictures and news on the club.

This is what I had to say to the club:

Way to go guys! By the way, these most recent accomplishments continue a trend of excellence that the TRC started in 2001:

Now lets go get some more money.

I just made and ate some Lasagne� it was incredibly good. It�s also the first beef I�ve had in a home-cooked meal since the holidays. I�m pretty sure that it�s all right to die early if I can always be this well satisfied. Like that one commercial on the radio says, if you�re going to be healthy by eating tofu, maybe you�ll live another ten years, but you�ll just have to eat tofu for another ten years. Of course, I�m young now and not exactly totally aware of my mortality despite numerous close calls, so maybe when my clogged arteries are the thing threatening my life, I�ll have a different opinion. But hopefully, I won�t, because I will be able to reflect on a life well lived.

Now, I suppose it is time to go and live that life worth looking back on. First on the itinerary is travel tomorrow evening to Portland, Oregon, for the 2004 FIRST Robotics Competition Pacific Northwest Regional Competition. It is the first regional this year, so we will be setting the bar for all the other regionals. And if everything goes well, the TRC will finally bring home a well-deserved championship trophy and gold metals.

Using: Mozilla Superpig and Mozilla Spaceant

Today, after the usual school thing, dropping off my photography assignment, and working (collected about 100 vhs tapes from various lists, joy), I went with my dad, Gary, Rich, and Earl to the Cinerama to see the Return of the King. I had seen it before, at the Factoria cinema, and I actually came away a little disappointed from that showing. Tonight, I learned that it was not the film that was disappointing � it was the theater. I saw the first two Lord of the Ring movies at Cinerama, and enjoyed them both. Now I have seen the third at Cinerama, and am wonderfully wowed rather than slightly dismayed. Congratulations to Peter Jackson and the whole crew that made the movies. This movie, and the entire series, best be getting some major recognition at the major award ceremonies.

Last time I saw the movie, and even more so this time, the most powerful scene for me was the lighting of the torches that Gondor used to call for help from Rohan. It sent shivers through me again. I remain unsure as to exactly why � perhaps it was the fact that the guardians of the towers, as portrayed, spent endless days watching for the signal that might have never come � but when it did come they were ready and performed their duty. Or maybe it was something else. Regardless, that scene was powerful.

I didn�t mention last night that I had ordered some items from U.S. Bearing in Seattle � namely some sprockets which were shipped from Portland, some chain, and a shaft. Well, initial reports had the package late, and when it finally showed up, missing important items and with other items in duplicate. I was ready to write a huge rant about US Bearing. Fortunately for them, and for the robot and FIRST team 492, things conspired for our good. The missing item was found after tearing the box apart, the duplicate item came in handy when the first one got destroyed, and everything turned out happy. Way to go US Bearing!

Donniedarko.com is interesting, if you have seen the movie.

I�m still sick. I made it up to about 85% recovered and I�ve just hovered there ever since. Its very annoying, and not at all usual. I want to be well again!

I�ve started to recover my counterstrike skillz. I started out 6-12 today, but then went on to get to 30-18, meaning that I was, for that period, 24-6! That�s pretty good methinks.

I got to talk to big Scott for the first time in a long time. This is why I miss him:

Scott: yooooooooooooooooooooo
Me: hi there’
Scott: hey
Scott: wazzup in Ryan land?
Me: um
Me: I want my teeth to have that after-dentist feeling, so i amusing my leatherman on them
Scott: cool
Me: also, I enjoy photography, but not photography teachers so much
Scott: did you know that the amount of integers (positive and negative) is the same amount as just the positive odd integers? Is that messed up or what?

Tomorrow, bright and early, I get to call all around to try to secure two sprockets, a 32 tooth with a hub and a 45 tooth plate, both #25. We need them by noon on Tuesday, so we�ll probally be paying more in shipping than for the actual sprockets. It�ll be interesting. Then comes math and we find out if I get to continue playing counterstrike. Then I get to spend the rest of the day in the photo lab. Wahoo.

I’m still really sick, so I’m trying to get as much sleep and vitamin C as possible so I can recover in time to study and pass my next math midterm on Friday.

Today I went to classes, picked up my parents at the airport (they were ~40 minutes late due to strong headwinds), then stopped by the school to see that Atlas, the robot, had broken its arm chain (#25, rated at more than 900 pounds!) and blown a couple of 20 amp compressor fuses, so basically only the drive train worked.