Tuvas's Take

Chrismas Wishlist for 2011

2011-11-18T12:56:00.000-08:00

Well, it's that time of the year again, the time of the year that I have to think what it is that I want for Christmas. Last year, I decided to post a blog entry so that anyone who has the misfortune to want to get a Christmas present for me can at least have a few ideas. I decided to do the same thing again this year, to help out a few poor souls, especially my poor wife... I'll try and add things as I can think of them... Anyways, here goes!

~~Settlers of Catan~~

~~The Settlers of Catan 5 and 6 Player Extension~~

The Belgariad, Vol. 1 (Books 1-3): Pawn of Prophecy, Queen of Sorcery, Magician's Gambit

The Belgariad, Vol. 2 (Books 4 & 5): Castle of Wizardry, Enchanters' End Game

The Red Pyramid (The Kane Chronicles, Book 1)

The Throne of Fire (The Kane Chronicles, Book Two)

~~Sid Meier's Civilization V~~

Geocaching containers

LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4

LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7

Dominion

Cracking the Coding Interview: 150 Programming Questions and Solutions

~~Burnout Paradise~~

~~Xbox 360 Wireless Controller - Glossy Black~~

Portal 2

Starcraft II

Lego Indiana Jones 2

Christmas wishlist

2010-08-25T21:10:00.000-07:00

So, my wife, among others, requested that I put together a Christmas wishlist. I figured I might as well put it on this ill-used blog, and let anyone see it who wants to. I do have a photography-limited one on my photography blog, so I'll try and keep this one photography-free, for the most part. Hope you enjoy! I'll probably add a few things from time to time, I'm having problems remembering everything on my list...

~~Crazy Machines 2~~

~~Denali's West Buttress: A Climber's Guide to Mount McKinley's Classic Route~~

Wii Energizer Flat Panel 4x Induction Charger

~~AA Nimh Rechargeable Batteries 20- Count Pack~~

~~New Super Mario Bros~~

~~Iron Man 2~~

~~Avatar~~

~~How to Train Your Dragon~~

The Settlers of Catan

The Belgariad, Vol. 1 (Books 1-3): Pawn of Prophecy, Queen of Sorcery, Magician's Gambit

The Belgariad, Vol. 2 (Books 4 & 5): Castle of Wizardry, Enchanters' End Game

Westcott 301 Photo Basics 40-Inch 5-in-1 Reflector

~~Lock Picking Basics~~

Wii MotionPlus

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

License, at last!

2010-01-23T17:14:00.001-08:00

Well, Ashlee and I got our foster care license, at last. Kind of hard to believe it has happened, it's been almost a year in the works. It'll bring an interesting change to our lives, that's for sure.

In other news, I'm now only one class away from graduating, if I do a project, or two away if I don't. Yeah! It'll sure be exciting to be done with school, and I don't have plans to do more than a master's degree at this time. I might sometime in the future, but not now.

So that's just a quick update on our lives, as it's been a while since I've posted.

Update on foster care and life in general

2009-11-07T13:45:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've made an entry, guess life is just really crazy... Right now Ashlee and I are working our way towards getting our foster care license. Actually, our paperwork is submitted, we are only waiting to hear back from the state if we will get our license. There's some chance we'll have children in our home soon.

I'm getting close to finishing up with my schoolwork for my graduate degree. It's taking longer than I would like but, well, it happens. It'll sure be nice to finish my Master's, I'm just glad that that day will come soon...

Ashlee's working on selling her artwork at a local store. If you haven't checked it out yet, take a look at http://art.pearsonartphoto.com . I'm attempting to do the same with my photography, but it's a slow battle... Sigh. Hopefully we'll figure out something soon.

Guess that's all of the news for now.

Crazy outfits

2009-07-18T11:59:00.001-07:00

Just finished the most recent episode of the Foster Parenting Podcast, and they released a special video. Thought I'd post it here for your enjoyment.

On fostercare

2009-06-28T08:09:00.000-07:00

For reasons of my wife's health, we were unable to continue with the foster care system at our earlier attempt. However, thanks to changing primary care doctors, Ashlee's doing alot better, and she'd improving well enough to consider it again. Hopefully we'll start up again soon. Just thought I'd give an update on that.

Results at last

2009-05-16T20:51:00.000-07:00

For some time, my wife has had a variety of health problems. At long last, we are starting to get answers. About a month ago, our primary care doctor told us she might have lupus. Ever since then, we've been keeping an eye on it, and it's looking more and more like that is the actual problem she's been having.

Lupus is an autoimmune disease. The body's own immune system is attacking itself, especially in the joints, skin, and kidneys. It is a chronic disease for which there is no cure, but some treatments available. It will sometimes go for a long period of time, to return in a flare up that can be debilitating for a period of some time.

Right now the diagnosis isn't 100%, but is still very likely. It seems likely that she has been suffering from some symptoms of it for the last 2-3 years, but still, it's not uncommon to take some time to diagnose.

We're still trying to get a better diagnosis, but it's good to know that we are at least starting to figure things out. It explains most of the health problems that Ashlee's had for a while, and that's always nice to know, even if it isn't the best of news.

Foster Care Podcast

2009-04-24T20:04:00.000-07:00

I should say that Ashlee and I have been talking about Foster Care for some time. One of the great resources I came across is the Foster Care Podcast. It's the story of a young married couple in an undisclosed location in Southern California. They talk about their previous adventures in Foster Care, and especially the process of taking in two young girls (Around 2-4 or so), and the final stages of foster care. It's very interesting, and I highly recommend this to anyone considering foster care. Here's a banner that talks links to their site.

Foster Care

2009-04-12T21:18:00.001-07:00

My wife and I have recently decided to enter the world of Foster Care, for a number of reasons. Mostly it's just to help people out. There's lots of kids who are in need of some serious help, and my wife and I are more than able to help. We have been blessed with more than we need right now. We are attending an orientation on the process Tuesday. I'll try and post some updates on how things are going with respect to foster care while going through the process.

New URL

2009-03-25T11:42:00.000-07:00

There is a new URL to this site, namely http://tuvas.pearsonartphoto.com. Just thought you might like to know. The old one will still work for now, but as I'm now a domain name owner, I figured I'd put the blog there as well.

Moving up in the world...

2009-03-24T21:23:00.000-07:00

I've now started to get really serious about photography. I've started a new site to showcase my work, and even registered a domain name (http://www.pearsonartphoto.com/) Hope you all find it and enjoy it!

More artwork

2009-03-12T07:22:00.000-07:00

My wife an I have been working on publishing our photos and art on a site, and we have a new home, namely http://pearsonartphoto.smugmug.com/ . Here's a sample of some of the pictures you can see there.

Pearson Art

2009-01-02T15:45:00.001-08:00

My wife just started publishing her art via Lulu, she's done some amazing things. Any purchases would help her a ton! See http://stores.lulu.com/pearson_art

Comparison of Phoenix to MRO

2008-05-26T09:40:00.000-07:00

Phoenix and MRO are really quite different, in a lot of ways. I attended both launch parties, and would just like to point out some differences in the two spacecraft MOI/landing events.

1. The two landings/MOI took place at about the same time of day, although MRO was on a Friday (Right before spring break).
2. The Phoenix landing was filled with thousands of people pouring into every space they could get. The MRO still had plenty of empty seats in Kuiper Space Sciences largest room.
3. As of MRO MOI, the science team still had 7 months or so to prepare, and was still hiring (Myself included). At Phoenix Landing, the mission will be over in 7 months for sure, lots of pressure is being put on the immediate mission to do as much as possible.
4. MRO's first images took hours to be transmitted. Phoenix only took a few minutes.

So, well, there's just a few things of note between the two missions. Kind of interesting.

Why Phoenix

2008-05-25T19:32:00.001-07:00

Many people have asked, why is the University of Arizona, based in Tucson, AZ, naming a spacecraft Phoenix?

Phoenix, as it now, was built from the Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander. The mission was canceled after the failure of the Mars Polar Lander in late 1999. The two spacecraft were very similar, and NASA decided not to risk another failure. The spacecraft was stored at Lockheed Martin for several years, until a new mission was proposed by Peter Smith, which would use this spacecraft, fix it up, and give it a new mission, namely, to find direct evidence of water ice at the north pole of Mars. It was given the name Phoenix because it was reborn from the ashes of two failed missions, the Mars Polar Lander, and Mars Surveyor Lander.

But, if you are still curious, then Peter Smith will tell you, that an objective is to send Phoenix to Mars.

List of things to come for Phoenix

2008-05-25T19:31:00.001-07:00

So, I think we can say now that we are in post-EDL operations, now that the solar panels have been verified. Still on the list of things to come:

1. Full panoramic from Phoenix, I would expect it to be coming in pieces over the next day, every hour and a half or so.
2. Imagery from HiRISE and possible Mars Express, which might show Phoenix while landing. The odds of success are slim, but it sure would be cool!
3. Imagery of HiRISE on it's landing spot. I find this unlikely to come by this Wednesday release, for a few reasons. First of all, it's likely due to a late parachute opening that Phoenix overshot it's landing a bit. If it overshot it far enough, then it would miss a HiRISE window (Remember, the FOV on HiRISE isn't that high...) Secondly, it takes about 4 advanced notice to change an image location, so the next opportunity won't be for a while. Given also the length of a downlink, I put a HiRISE image for the 4th of June.

First Images!

2008-05-25T18:59:00.000-07:00

Well, the first images have come in, and the following can be said:

1. The lander landed in a very desolate area, there is hardly a rock to be seen from the pictures.
2. The solar panels deployed successfully.
3. The lander landed in an area with firm ground, it didn't sink in at all, or so it appears.
4. We are still awaiting confirmation of the biocontainer seal being released. Assuming that it happened, we can deploy the arm soon.

I wonder how long it will take to get the lander spotted from Orbit. It looks like if you can find the lander, it'll stand out like a sore thumb, there's absolutely nothing around it, but there's nothing around it to identify it's position, at least from the first image. All you can see is flat landscape for a long ways.

Landing!

2008-05-25T16:54:00.000-07:00

So, Phoenix has now become the 6th US lander to land safely on Mars. Still to be determined is if it is in full working condition. The first picture is expected back in an hour and a half. MRO has attempted with it's HiRISE camera to take a picture, so only time will tell if that has come through. If it was successful, it will be known to the crew in about 7 hours. The deployment stage is being tested, solar planet signals are being received. I'll probably be heading off after this post, so for now, signing off.

Legs seporation and landing

2008-05-25T16:51:00.000-07:00

So, the next step is the landing, which will happen soon, likely when I'm writing this post, so I'll explain what's happening. The altitude is now only 1600 meters, and going down. It will very shortly land. 1000 meters. Seporation has been detected, Phoenix is now just on rocket power. 100m 80m 50m 40m 30m 27m 20m 15m waiting for touchdown. Touchdown detected!!!!

Heat shield seporation

2008-05-25T16:50:00.000-07:00

They have now confirmed, the heat shield has separated, and parachutes have deployed! Yah!

Awaiting signal

2008-05-25T16:47:00.000-07:00

So, while we're awaiting the signal, I might point out a tradition, that the control center passes out peanuts while waiting for such events.

Phoenix should have deployed parachutes by now. BTW, I'm getting all of this info from what I can gather from what they are saying.

Blackout region

2008-05-25T16:45:00.001-07:00

We have now entered the atmosphere. We are now in a blackout region, where communication is not expected. So for the next few minutes, there won't necessarily be any updates.

MRO/Odyssey

2008-05-25T16:43:00.000-07:00

Odyssey and MRO are both in place to receive data. Parachute deployment is expected soon. We are awaiting confirmation. MRO and Odyssey are both relaying data, which is as expected.

EDL

2008-05-25T16:41:00.000-07:00

Right now we are awaiting confirmation that EDL has started. This starts when Phoenix enters the atmosphere. Right now, we are awaiting this to happen. If all is well, Phoenix should now be on the surface, beaming it's message back to Earth, waiting for the radio waves to return to Earth.

2008-05-25T16:40:00.001-07:00

They just announced that radio contact is going as planned, after cruise stage separation. So far, so good.

2008-05-25T16:38:00.001-07:00

After trying for almost 20 minutes, I've finally found a seat with my wife, in the back corner of the lobby of Kuiper Space Sciences. I can barely hear what is happening, but they have announced Cruise Stage Separation, which is the final stage of the cruise phase of the mission. EDL starts in only a few minutes.

There is some thousands of people here, I might add.

Phoenix Landing

2008-05-25T12:03:00.000-07:00

So, the day has finally come, the Phoenix Lander is going to land on Mars today! The real question is, will it land in one piece? Okay, those of you who know way too much about space will know that an optimal landing will involve several pieces, but you know what I mean.

So, in about 4 and a half hours, Phoenix will enter the Martian atmosphere. At first, it will use a heat shield to protect it against the heat produced by the spacecraft compressing the air in front of it. When it gets closer to the surface, it will eject a supersonic parachute, which should slow it down enough to use a normal parachute. At the same time, it will eject it's heat shield. These both happen about 5 miles above the surface of the planet. Still, both of these parachutes will not be large enough to stop it completely. The atmosphere of Mars is much thinner than that of Earth. Also, you don't want to get tangled up in a parachute, that could be a mess, not to mention cutting the power and imaging capacity of the spacecraft. The parachutes will fly away, along with what is called the backshell, shortly before it will land. Then on board rockets on the Phoenix will take care of the rest of the work, several of them pulsing, and a few more constant.

If all goes well, then Phoenix will call home. This whole process takes about 7 minutes, and is known as the "7 minutes of terror". Everyone who has been working on the spacecraft will be holding their breath, to know if like it's near twin, the Mars Polar Lander, it will fail, or if they managed to fix the problems to have a successful landing. Soon enough, we will all know.

GOP election results so far, and other comments.

2008-01-21T05:48:00.000-08:00

So far this election year has been full of excitement. In a time where TV writers are on strike, it is proving to be something of a new reality TV, and is full of excitement. Right now the GOP has had 6 elections, and has 6 candidates. Of the 6 candidates, I would guess that Fred Thomson and Ron Paul will likely be dropping out soon. Ron Paul will probably keep going until Super Tuesday, but after that day, there's going to have to be some serious questions.

One thing I think is highly overlooked is the possibility that Fred Thomson can decide who will be the nominee, within reason. If he drops the race, and endorses one of 3 candidates, he very likely can pick who will be the next Republican nominee. If he chooses McCain, Romney, or Huckabee, each of the 3 will most likely go on to be the nominee. If he chooses Guiliani, Guiliani would have a better chance.

Also, if he just drops out, it will likely help 2 candidates, Romney and Huckabee, who are considered to be the most conservative along with Thomson, who is the most conservative I believe to be a subject of debate, but it certainly is one of those 3.

Ron Paul, when he drops out, will likely benefit Romney, as they are the two biggest economic sharks in the race. No candidate has Ron Paul's war stance, and so I would guess most of those would be fairly evenly distributed.

Also, I have been quite saddened by the lack of attention Romney has been getting. He has had more delegates, and more votes, than any Republican since 2 days after Iowa, and yet, he's never got half as much attention as McCain and Huckabee for their wins, which when put together give the same number of wins as Romney has so far.

More on GOP candidates

2008-01-12T08:27:00.000-08:00

I've started to take an even broader view of the elections, and realized something even greater. The biggest problems we are facing right now are the economy, terrorism, and Iraq. There is only 2 GOP candidates who even have a though as to what to do to help the economy, and those are Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. Of the two, Romney clearly has the superior view on terrorism. He already has sounded like a president. During the YouTube Debate, much discussion came from methods used in terrorist interrogations. Of those who have expressed a view on the matter, the most presidential sounding was clearly the "I won't discuss methods I will use as president for interrogations". This was he isn't backed into a moral debate at some point in time in the future, he hasn't cornered himself in the slightest. He hasn't given any information away that can help the terrorists in the future. Rather, he is saying that he doesn't support torture, but won't define it yet, thus upholding the constitution, and the safety of our country. Go Romney!

President 2008 GOP candidate

2007-11-15T18:44:00.000-08:00

I've thought long and hard as to whom I would like to support for president in 2008. In my mind, the ideal candidate would be someone who can take charge of things, who can make a difference. He should have some experience leading already. He should have values, and stick to them, and not be changing what he things all of the time. He should have ideas as to how to cut government spending, and if possible, have proven himself in that field. He should have a vision to help privatize healthcare, and if possible, have already helped with such an endeavor. If he were successful, that would be even better. Last but not least, he should be strong on national defense.

I've head much that the presidential candidates for the GOP party were weak this time, and for a while I had succumb to such a view. But I started to look at the candidates, and I found the one who supports all of the issues that I am interested, who had proven he can take charge of a government and cut spending, who doesn't let his principals be trampled. He has a consistent message, has solved the great health care problem in his state. He has a vision for energy independence. This man is Mitt Romney. I cannot see why there are so many who miss him. Even those opposed to him admit he looks presidential. He had a proven track record. I support Romney for 2008!

California Vs IAU about pluto

2006-09-12T13:53:00.000-07:00

In response to Pluto's recent demotation, the CA legilation introduced the following resolution.

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/asm/ab_0001-0050/hr_36_bill_20060824_introduced.pdf

I just want to point out a few key phrases. (My favorites)

WHEREAS, Downgrading Pluto's status will cause psychological harm to some Californians who question their place in the universe and worry about the instability of universal constants; and

WHEREAS, The downgrading of Pluto reduces the number of planets available for legislative leaders to hide redistricting legislation and other inconvenient political reform measures; and

WHEREAS, The deletion of Pluto as a planet renders millions of text books, museum displays, and children's refrigerator art projects obsolete, and represents a substantial unfunded mandate that must be paid by dwindling Proposition 98 education funds, thereby harming California's children and widening its budget deficits.

No, this is NOT a joke, or if it is, well, it really is being voted on in CA. It hasn't been accepted as official legislation, but, well, I can't beleive this stuff is coming out of any body of legislation, I thought it was some crazy college student (Such as myself) who had way too much time on their hands (Definately not me). Anyways, enjoy!

Thoughts on Pluto's demotion

2006-09-12T13:50:00.000-07:00

After having a discussion about Pluto's demotion from being a planet, I've come up with the following argument.

One 4 foot tall person running around a track is a person, but several 7 foot people running around the same track are dwarfs!

Farewell Pluto

2006-08-24T06:57:00.000-07:00

For many years, we were living in a 9 planet solar system. Then astronomers discovered that Pluto wasn't so special after all, that there were thousands of objects just like it. And today, it has been decided, that Pluto isn't a planet after all. So, to Pluto, the planet that was, I bid thee farewell.

Cubesat Conference

2006-08-14T16:00:00.000-07:00

Attending this year's cubesat conference was quite interesting. With the unsuccessful launch of our two satellites only a few weeks previously, has caused me to reflect as to what exactly I am doing here. There were funds left over from the program, which were to be used with operations related to tracking the satellites. Of course, we would not receive money for the actual act, because these are amateur satellites, but, this was for building any ground support equiptment and other such tasks needed.

I have come to a few conclusions. The program at the University of Arizona is largely dead. I don't know what can be done to save it. I have, however, come up with a few ideas. The best idea which I have is related to building a class which has the purpose to build satellites, and teach students how to do so. I don't know what the interest would be, but it has the potential to be quite useful Other than that, I'm not sure what can happen to the program... It's so sad, after so many years of fighting, we've just died out... If only we can get the support from the college. I have decided that I will write to our new college president, in support of the program. I'm not sure what else I might be able to do, but, that will likely be my start.

NASA and the future education of our country

2006-08-14T13:49:00.000-07:00

I am currently a participant in the 20th Small Satellite Conference that is taking place in Logan, Utah. The keynote speaker of the conference was Mike Griffon, Director of NASA.

As is evident from some of my posts, I am a member of my University's Student Sattellite Program. It was asked by two different people, one student and one other, what was NASA's role as a provider for student technology into space. When he was asked quite simply for the opportunity to launch, Mike stated, NASA can't afford it.

This to me is an outrage! NASA, who would spend tons of money on so very many things, can't afford $10 million to help students launch their projects into space. This is a long term project, but one which will have so very many dividends. Space technology will be greatly enabled to do the right thing, to have more aerospace engineers. It will allow for greater inovation, for experiments which can be done on a very limited buget. It will allow NASA to save money in the few years range, for they will not have to train as much their engineers. Unfortunatly, "NASA cannot afford it" was the answer.

I have decided to take up arms, so to speak, about this subject. I will take a more active lead into moving for a change in the US government to more freely allow for space access to student projects. Look for me in coming days with letters related to this subject.

MySpace

2006-06-27T10:37:00.000-07:00

Well, I recently joined the myspace phenomina (Which I have violently protested against for almost a year, since I first heard about it... ). So, my thoughts are these.

It seems like it's just a waste of time. I feel depressed seeing the "You have no friends" statement (Althought as of writing this, I have 3), etc. I find myself logging in there frequently, and seeing that nothing's really happened... Grr. Oh well, such is life.

Still, I can see how such a thing can be useful. But, more and more, I'm deciding that it's just not for me. My stay on it might be long-lived, or short-lived, but, well, at least I can now say I've given it a shot.

Cool jobs

2006-06-27T10:15:00.000-07:00

So, I've been thinking recently, I have one of those jobs that seems to be really cool. However, the details of it are rather boring. I've realized alot of jobs are like that.

Take, for instance, an astronaut. They seem to have a very cool job, they get to fly into space. However, there's a catch. Before they are allowed to fly, they must run simluators, to the point that most people would go insane. It's probably the biggest releif for them to finally go into space, because then they don't have to work on the simulators, they can just finally do their job.

So, the next time you see someone's job you envy, think again. It might not be as cool as you would think.

Friendship

2006-06-26T08:59:00.000-07:00

Well, recently I started an account on Myspace.com (Username tuvas_21, if your curious). And, while I was doing that, there came the question of "Who would you like to meet".

Well, I had recently been thinking about what a friend means. And I came to a few conclusions. Friendship is something that is one of our greatest things that we have here on this earth, and most people take advantage of it.

I passed some time without friends, and let me tell you, it is not a fun thing. But recently, now that I've started to have more friends, I've become more worried about the quality of them, as opposed to the quantity.

There are two types of friends really. There are the type of person you like to pass time with, go to the movies, go bowling, etc. They are people that to pass time with is fun, and they are quite useful.

And then, there is another type, the type that is much deeper, to which I will refer to as a true friend. These are they with whom you can pass hours just talking with about anything. This are they who help you when you are down, who will help to lift you up. They don't take advantage of you, rather, they value greatly the time that you spend with them.

Well, there's my thoughts on that subject.

More HiRISE

2006-03-25T14:03:00.000-08:00

Wow, I just saw the latest batch of photos from the HiRISE camera. They are beautiful, absolutly amazing, I can't wait to get my hands on them to look some more. For 2 hours I was looking at these detailed pictures (And we barely got through the second of 4), and they are perhaps better than the first. We were expected them to be uninteresting. The reason being something called a Jitter test, which basically is we are testing to see how the camera performs with the other instruments on the camera operating. Many of them move, causing the spacecraft to shake slightly, and we are working to correct them. But, the problem was not largely visible, and we're going to take these processes out, if possible. Stay tuned for these amazing pictures!

HiRISE pictures

2006-03-24T18:21:00.000-08:00

So, last night was a big night for me. The first HiRISE pictures came streaming in. It was amazing. I sat in the control room, it was the first experience I had as a member of HiROC of note, and what a noteworthy time it was. I unfortunately had a test the next day, so I couldn't spend the time to wait for the pictures to come in (The pictures came in at about 2 in the morning, my test was at 8). But it really is amazing their quality. The team couldn't be happier!

Wikipedia

2006-03-17T17:42:00.000-08:00

So, I recently discoved the site http://www.wikipedia.org . It's been a crazy 24 hours for me. I've taked upon myself to get myself published somehow, and that's what I'm doing. It first started with Cubesat, a program that I've been working on for 3 years now. Then it went on to Harry Potter. I found that the list of things that's supposed to happen in Book 7 very low, so I decided to add to it, a bunch. It's crazy.

Spring Break

2006-03-16T17:02:00.000-08:00

So, have any of you had one of those vacations, such as Spring Break, that comes, and you just don't know what to do with yourself during that period of time? I'm entering into one such period of time right now. It's rather odd. I guess if you actually leave, it's not so bad, but if you stay behind and do something like work, during the evenings you almost get bored, it's rather odd.

Well, at least such is my experience. Anyone else out there agree?

Homework

2006-03-14T20:12:00.000-08:00

So, right now I'm working on another homework for my analog amplifiers class. These homeworks are painful, they take on average at least 15 hours to do, most are a fair bit longer. I've gotten the hardest part done, and feel like I can take a break for the night. Still, I think I've gotten the voltage multiplier AB amplifier stuck in my head forever. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a highly efficient but difficult to analyse amplifier, usually used for sound systems, especially higher-end systems. Otherwise, there are better amplifiers to use, that don't require as much knowledge.

I can't believe I'm doing homework during Spring Break. Oh well, need to get me a life.

Amateur Radio

2006-03-14T10:15:00.000-08:00

So, for a while, I've been an Amateur Radio Operator. I thought it was the coolest thing when I got my license 3 years ago, to be able to talk to people from anywhere easily. Recently, I have gotten a cell phone. I have come to the conclusion that almost all of the joy of being an amateur radio operator has been eliminated by owning a cell phone. Crazy, eh?

But still, it can be fun to access the Amateur Satellites. I am often on the satellites UO-11 and AO-27. It has been a while since I accessed either of them, I must say.

Still, I recommend getting one of these licenses. I'm sure glad I did!

Google Mars

2006-03-13T16:02:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know, there is a new program to get to know Mars a bit better, one that I have been anxiously awaiting, called Google Mars. See http://www.google.com/mars/ .

I think this is a truly amazing idea. I mean, even I, who consider myself a space geek, know almost nothing about the terrain of Mars. And now, anyone with the desire can play with the images from there. I hope they will put the images from the HiRISE on there as well, the camera which I will be working with, which would be an even greater resolution than the current images.

So, I can't wait for the program to be downloadable! I give this a 2 thumbs up, it's awesome!

Musings about JK Rowling website update

2006-03-10T16:06:00.000-08:00

So, for those of you who are fans of Harry Potter, you probably know, or at least, should know, about her website, http://www.jkrowling.com/ . It is quite possible the best website done by a major author for her fans. You will not find her trying to sell books there, or anything along those lines, just hints about her life and Harry Potter. It really is quite cool.

So, this week, she updated it, and added alot of cool new stuff to the site. There's alot more personal stuff here and there, and alot more secrets. If you didn't know, there was 7, and now appearently 12 secrets to her website, stuff that will give you cool insites to the series. For instance, one of them is a picture of Nearly Headless Nick. There are all kinds of them, with a bit of the history behind them.

So, the latest batch included some gold. Perhaps the best was one of the outlines of HP5, with some elements taken away, and others included. This can be obtained by making a lightning shape on the piece of paper with the pen in the extras section. The lightning should be basically an L then straight down.

So, I guess that's my take on the website. It's way cool, if you like Harry Potter, and haven't gone there, I highly recommend it!

MRO-Orbit Successful!

2006-03-10T15:28:00.000-08:00

Yah! So, the MRO is now orbiting Mars successfully! Perhaps one of the greatest moments of my life! So, let me tell you about the flow of the day.

It all started for me at about 1:00 today, or, well, at least, todays story started. I was at the University of Arizona's Luner and Planetary Labratory (LPL), watching with the team of the HiRISE camera the orbit of a martian spacecraft. It was very exciting. We had a wait of an hour and a half to hear if the craft had indeed started it's burn. So, the HiRISE staff started to explain the many features of the craft, it was quite neat.

Well, we had the opportunity to ask several questions. I did so, and it was quite neat to get alot of results, to find out a bit more about what was happening, about the MRO, etc. I had alot riding on the successful orbit of this camera, as I will shortly explain.

So, then, we had confirmation that the first burn started. The whole room started to become tense, there was an era of excitement, unlike anything I have felt before, it seemed. It was fun, a kid right in front of me (I was in the 3rd row by this point in time, the first 2 rows were for the HiROC, or HiRise Operations Control), which was showing one of those cool little charts that they have in NASA, it was visibly showing the change in velocity that the spacecraft was having. It showed several mark points, and it was right on the money!

So then, we soon reached Earth Blackout. What that means simply is that the orbiter went behind Mars. We had a half hour wait, to see what would happen.

So, then, the big moment, would the spacecraft survive. Anxiously we awaited, and then it came, the beatiful sound of "We have one-way contact!" The whole room exploded in excitement! A Mars mission had survived, by this point in time, there had been no known missions to have failed. Still, we anxiously awaited for that confirmation that the spacecraft had indeed orbited.

And then it came, we have confirmed Mars orbit! The room again exploded in excitement! The Mars spacecraft had orbited!

So, why does this all mean so much to me? You see, I will now be working as a programmer for the HiRISE camera. It was conditional upon the succesful orbit of the camera, so I guess I have a new job! It will surely be an exciting time!

ECE 304 and studying

2006-03-10T07:28:00.000-08:00

So, if there are any EE majors from the University of Arizona, you might have heard of ECE 304. If your not there, just imagine that really really hard class you had to take, perhaps Organic Chemistry, and you might have about the same idea.

So, I'm taking this class this semester. It's a class in basically amplifier design with transisters. That's the most technical I'll get, so you can keep reading. This class is supposed to be the hardest class in my major. I mean, everyone, even the smartest of people, complain about it. It's just crazy. For all of my undergraduate career, I heard bad about this class.

So, I'm now in it. It's a 6 unit class, holding class 3 times a week for 2 hours, and 2 3 hour labs per week. Not to mention that, but there's homework that takes even me, who am normally that kid who spends a quater of the time of anyone else on a problem, couldn't finish in less than 15 hours, and there are about 10 of these assignments durning the year. Crazy, eh? It's not a class for those with a busy life.

So, I took the first of 6 tests in the class, I'll just put it like this. I've never gotten a grade so low in my life. I decided to actually study for the next test. Some of you might think that's a no brainer, but, well, it's the first time I've ever really studied for a test in my whole life. Yep, it's the truth. I've studied before, but nothing really too serious, normally because I get good grades one way or another.

So, when I started studying for the tests, the results were obvious. I started scoring as much as 3 times higher on subsequent tests as I did on the first, even to go from below average to the highest grade in the class of 60. And I've discovered something, I actually enjoy this nasty class, although I wish there was a bit less homework.

So, it all just depends on your atitude. Just do your best, and it will all work out.

Harry Potter, muses about my early HP days

2006-03-10T06:50:00.000-08:00

So, I'm an HP nut. It's hard for me to admit it, but, it's the truth. I started reading the books when the 3rd one was out, I must have been about 16. Wow, that was almost 6 years. So, I read all of the books at the time, all 3 of them. It was awesome. I waited for that oh so special 4th book to come out. But, there was a problem, the day of it's release, I had an activity at my church, of waterskiing. I wasn't as big of an HP fan at the time, so, I decided, fine, I'll have some fun. My dad had ordered the 2 books through some book publishing magazine, and they weren't going to get to our house anyways. Well, we weren't that big of HP fans at the time, and I didn't know any others, far different than today.

So, anyways, I get home from the trip (My dad and all of my brothers were there to, only my mom and youngest sister stayed home), and what do I see? I noticed the cover to a new HP book. I started thinking, hey, we can't have got our copies in the mail yet. So, I heard the story, my mom and sister decided to go and buy the book, and were hogging it to themselves, claiming something like we all had fun that day, they had to have some fun too.

So, I started thinking, I really want to read that book. I woke up at about 4 in the morning the next morning. I started thinking, hmmm, wonder where they put the book. I realized it was in my sisters room. So, I get this crazy idea to go into my sisters room while she's still asleep, grab the book, and start reading. I finally convinced myself to do it, and, well, yep, I did it.

So, I read the first 6 chapters that night. Crazy that I still remember. At about 5:45 I decided to get some more sleep, I snuck into my sisters room again and put the book right back where it was.

The problem was, I got a bit braver, and tried to get it when she went into the shower. Harry Potter can have that effect on people. Well, I got caught.

Still, good came out of it, I got to start reading at every moment they weren't reading I tried to finish the book before they did, and thought I was, I didn't count on my mom and sister staying up till past midnight one night to finish reading the book. My sister was only 7 or 8 then, so, reading was still a bit hard for her. I realized why it was when I got to that last part, it was just crazy.

So, that's the start of my becoming a Potter Head. Perhaps I'll go on to futher details, but it's amazing what Potter can make you do sometimes. The only time I ever did sneak into my sisters room was to get that book. Crazy, eh?

Cryptology

2006-03-10T06:03:00.000-08:00

So, I'm taking a cryptology class at my university. I'm thinking, wow, this is amazing stuff. I never realized how much there was into the whole system. It really is amazing at how secure your data can be.

So, I decided, now that I've learned all sorts of fun cryptosystems, I decided to go for it. I decided to build a secure diary system. This system will allow possiby several people to access it, or at least, parts of it, if you authorize them. It's turning out fairly well. I'm writing the program in Python, which may be of use to some of you out there.

Then I'm thinking, is it really that important to make sure no one can read my journal? In the end, I decided, well, not really, but I have to do a project anyways, and might as well have some fun with it while I'm at it.

MRO- Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

2006-03-09T20:43:00.000-08:00

Tommorow is a big day for space junkies like me. The newest Mars Orbiter will arrive at Mars, carrying an instrument provided by my university, the HiRISE camera, or the High Resolution Imaginge Science Experiment. This camera is HUGE, I've seen a full scale model of it on the UA campus. It will be able to take pictures of up to 25 cm of resolution, or about a foot. Imagine then, if you were on Mars, then the picture could indeed find you, especially if you were laying down.

The following link is a news article about the MRO. It details alot of the risk involved in a MOI, or Mars Orbital Insertion

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/03/09/mars.orbiter.preview/index.html

Granted, NASA is 2 for 4 in recent years, but well, I bet they've learned a thing or two from their mistakes. First of all, I'd be willing to be it's been checked at least a dozen times by a dozen people if the units are metric or English. That one's probably alright, that takes care of one of the orbiters. The other one, well, it went down due to problems in the aerobraking. It happens, but, NASA's surely learned a trick or two since those days. So, I give them at least 80% odds of a sucessful orbit. I most certainly hope they do, there's more than just some fake bet here at stake, but, tommorow I'll be able to post more.

Thoughts on anxiety

2006-03-09T19:46:00.000-08:00

Why is it, that when are anxiously awaiting something, that it never comes?

For a while, I have been offered a new job, conditional upon the need of the team. I will find out for sure at about 3 if they will be needing me for the job, and, well, that day just doesn't seem to come ever. Why is that? And, well, this job has been something along the lines of what I've wanted to do since I was a little kid, so I couldn't be more excited.

And why is it, that when one is so anxiously awaiting something beyond someone's control, that every little thing seems unimportant, that one almost gets depressed? I've realized that I'm getting grouchier, and it's just no good.

Oh well. Such is life I suppose.