Well, one's new and one's a few years old.
A couple weeks ago I started watching Bunheads and this last weekend I dug up Ballykissangel. Two shows that almost couldn't be more different, but both quite a bit of fun to watch. The first would earn serious ridicule from a certain brother of mine and the second, well... it reminds me of Last of the Summer Wine, and therefore makes me feel like an old geezer. But, I don't care.
Not sure what it is about Bunheads, but something about the strange personality (which any sane person would expect me to go mad at watching) of Sutton Foster's character is kind of endearing to watch... just a pretty funny show in all. The whimsical capers of the ballet girls are also a highlight. Oh, and the character Fanny is almost insufferable... yet, I keep coming back for more.
Ballykissangel is set in a small, quaint Irish town and reminds me of several of the older BBC shows. Nicely homelike and slowish.... I don't really know how to describe it. [huge, sick cliche] It's just a warm show. [huge, sick cliche] With its own sort of intrigue and adventure. I think I'm partial to the whole story-of-a-young-humble-priest sort of deal.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
Big Day Tomorrow
After two weeks of research, and 3 revisions of my slides, I am getting to the bare and bitter end before my IDR tomorrow. I almost have a complete presentation together and it still needs another look over, but I feel like my approach is set, and only polishing is left. Some 16 invites have been sent, nearly all accepted... and a whole extra meeting called to prelude the IDR.
So, this project was one of those, "It's all the same" type of deals. My mentor has instilled in me an alarm bell, now, that goes off whenever I hear that phrase. What started as a project that was just "the same" turned into a "We have real questions here", which turned into a "We have some real problems here", which turned into "We can't do it like it was proposed."
To make matters even more interesting, we have a rather unique customer (internal to Rockwell) who is a combination of "I am going to contradict what I just said because I forgot" and a "I am going to contradict what I said because I just changed my mind" kind of guy. This morning he was all set, just about, on calling for the IDR to be canceled, or at least pushed back, so we could look into an entirely new integration option, or two.
It's interesting to see how my coworkers and superiors react to situations like these... the colorful language that flows, the all-but-so-and-so's an idiot response. One can never know the joys of distributed talent until one sees the insides of a large engineering firm.
Between the chaos and confusion, I've been able to have some really interesting conversations with my mentor. He's kind of lost most of his faith in humanity and is constantly bemoaning the inefficiencies around him, but he's also a very decent person and open to talking about real issues of life, even of his own. I can only thank God that I have had the opportunity to discuss issues surrounding the meaning of life with him on more than one occasion.
So, this project was one of those, "It's all the same" type of deals. My mentor has instilled in me an alarm bell, now, that goes off whenever I hear that phrase. What started as a project that was just "the same" turned into a "We have real questions here", which turned into a "We have some real problems here", which turned into "We can't do it like it was proposed."
To make matters even more interesting, we have a rather unique customer (internal to Rockwell) who is a combination of "I am going to contradict what I just said because I forgot" and a "I am going to contradict what I said because I just changed my mind" kind of guy. This morning he was all set, just about, on calling for the IDR to be canceled, or at least pushed back, so we could look into an entirely new integration option, or two.
It's interesting to see how my coworkers and superiors react to situations like these... the colorful language that flows, the all-but-so-and-so's an idiot response. One can never know the joys of distributed talent until one sees the insides of a large engineering firm.
Between the chaos and confusion, I've been able to have some really interesting conversations with my mentor. He's kind of lost most of his faith in humanity and is constantly bemoaning the inefficiencies around him, but he's also a very decent person and open to talking about real issues of life, even of his own. I can only thank God that I have had the opportunity to discuss issues surrounding the meaning of life with him on more than one occasion.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Into the World of Engineering: Sometimes by baby steps...
... and sometimes by leaps and bounds.
Well, the past two weeks at Rockwell have been a whirlwind. I have gone from being assigned a fairly clear cut task of turning a set of LabView test code into C# to a multifaceted project involving requirements capture, systems work, and hardware design. It's still the same project, mind you. The scope has just increased. I am now set to go into the real test ground... Initial Design Review... that's a little (insert sarcasm) meeting where the customer, project engineer, systems, hardware, and software people all gather to see the results of YOUR requirements capture, to decide whether a thing can be done or not, and hopefully, how it should be done. I can say one thing for certain. I have never had this kind of responsibility laid on my shoulders over the entire time of my co-op.
We're talking time estimates, materials research, interface design, and many a long conversation with hardware engineers trying to figure out what they actually designed. Almost everything that goes into a bid, without doing the actual bid. I can't recall how many times my manager has resorted to an expression like, "This is engineering, man. This is the thing!" as he is mentoring me through the process. I feel like this next week could be sink or swim for me. I guess my job isn't on the line, but it feels like my competence is.
If anyone reads this blog still... I would appreciate your thoughts and prayers as I head into a tough week. I am hoping I won't have to pull weekend hours to get ready for this thing, but I guess it is possible. I have a lot of work yet to do before showtime on Tuesday. I am trusting God to guide me through this experience. It has the potential to be very rewarding. That is my hope and prayer at least.
Well, the past two weeks at Rockwell have been a whirlwind. I have gone from being assigned a fairly clear cut task of turning a set of LabView test code into C# to a multifaceted project involving requirements capture, systems work, and hardware design. It's still the same project, mind you. The scope has just increased. I am now set to go into the real test ground... Initial Design Review... that's a little (insert sarcasm) meeting where the customer, project engineer, systems, hardware, and software people all gather to see the results of YOUR requirements capture, to decide whether a thing can be done or not, and hopefully, how it should be done. I can say one thing for certain. I have never had this kind of responsibility laid on my shoulders over the entire time of my co-op.
We're talking time estimates, materials research, interface design, and many a long conversation with hardware engineers trying to figure out what they actually designed. Almost everything that goes into a bid, without doing the actual bid. I can't recall how many times my manager has resorted to an expression like, "This is engineering, man. This is the thing!" as he is mentoring me through the process. I feel like this next week could be sink or swim for me. I guess my job isn't on the line, but it feels like my competence is.
If anyone reads this blog still... I would appreciate your thoughts and prayers as I head into a tough week. I am hoping I won't have to pull weekend hours to get ready for this thing, but I guess it is possible. I have a lot of work yet to do before showtime on Tuesday. I am trusting God to guide me through this experience. It has the potential to be very rewarding. That is my hope and prayer at least.
Friday, June 8, 2012
We're talking old...
Well, I saw my first full-length silent film, The Farmer's Wife directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It was interesting to say the least. There were lots of boring parts, where you just want to scream, "Get on with it! What's the next scene?!" But, once you get into it, you can start to appreciate (maybe by viciously hating) the exorbitant pauses on facial expressions and the exaggerated emotional gestures.
And, for the record, there is nothing like an awkward silence as the awkward silence in a silent movie.
The most awkward way to end silence is with another silent expression.
And, for the record, there is nothing like an awkward silence as the awkward silence in a silent movie.
The most awkward way to end silence is with another silent expression.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
The Brave Old World of Vacuum Tubes
So, I picked up of one of these at a ham radio tailgate sale last semester.
It's a 6N010 Relay made by Amperite. It's supposed to have a 10 second delay to closing. After hooking mine up to 6.3 VAC, I discovered it has something like a 22 second delay cold and as little as a 7 second delay hot.
I was worried that it might not work because that mica plate, across which the filaments are stretched, is broken, not completely, but there is a definite tear in there. It still heats up, though, and closes the connection. So, I am pretty thrilled. We'll have to see what all I can do with this little beast.
Oh, incidentally, these tubes are selling upwards of $100 on eBay... I picked mine up for less than a buck.
It's a 6N010 Relay made by Amperite. It's supposed to have a 10 second delay to closing. After hooking mine up to 6.3 VAC, I discovered it has something like a 22 second delay cold and as little as a 7 second delay hot.
I was worried that it might not work because that mica plate, across which the filaments are stretched, is broken, not completely, but there is a definite tear in there. It still heats up, though, and closes the connection. So, I am pretty thrilled. We'll have to see what all I can do with this little beast.
Oh, incidentally, these tubes are selling upwards of $100 on eBay... I picked mine up for less than a buck.
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