I think I know what I want

I think I know what I want.

I want to work at Graco until I have kids.  I don't want to have kids until I have my car loan and student loans paid off.

I want to be able to have the option of being a stay-at-home mom for a while, only a few years.  We'll see.

Then want to go back to school at the U and get a Master's in education, like what Adam did.  2 summers and 1 full year of teaching.  You get a Master's in education and you get a teaching license.  Maybe I'd even be able to squeeze in a few tech classes I wanted to take before.

Then I want to get a teaching job where I teach kids basic electronics and basic software.  Think EE1301.  Start with binary and basic circuits.  Do cool labs with LEDs and logic circuitry.  Do some assembly on microcontrollers, do some C on microcontrollers, do some HTML5 or Java on a computer (of course, I'd have to learn this too).  HOW COOL WOULD THAT BE?  I wonder if there is a technology magnet school somewhere in town where I'd be able to do that.  Or maybe do it for home school groups.

I know Moose wants to go back to school at some point.  Maybe he should do that sooner rather than later and I could support us for a few years.  Hmmm... hmmmm.

Anyway, I just wanted to post that here because I think it's neat.

The weeks of work and school

*pant pant* It's not February yet! I can still make two posts in January. *cough*

*wheeze*

Anywho, about three weeks ago, I started my new job. For the last three weeks, I've been reading through quality assurance documents, documents describing the design process, documents describing the technology that goes into the machines created at my work... you name it, I've read it. It's been fairly boring, but I've gotten the chance to talk to quite a few people at work and shake some hands and learn some very interesting technologies. Now that school has started, I'm going to be working about 20 hours a week. With 20 hours a week, I'm able to enroll in benefits and start accumulating vacation time. Also, it means that I can actually start working on real projects!!! I'm excited. However, I'm also a bit disappointed as it seems I will only be working on software for the upcoming project as the hardware has already been designed.

I'm finally in my last semester of school (at least for the time being). I'm taking 11 grueling credits... just enough to finish up my master's degree. I even filled out the graduation forms and had them signed by the Dean of Graduate Studies. He kept asking me why I was only doing a master's degree and not a Ph.D. as I had initially intended. Apparently he remembered me from a presentation I gave in his lab group regarding my research my first semester as a grad student. He asked me why I hadn't come to talk to him sooner... he told me that he could have found me a TA position and possibly a new adviser. He sighed as he signed my forms. He told me that if I passed the qualifying exam, I could take one class a semester to keep my graduate student status and he'd help me find an adviser to do a thesis. I told him I'd think about it, even though I know I don't have time to properly study for the qualifying exam. So it goes.

Last semester is going well so far. My classes seem relatively easy... we'll see if I say the same thing when I have time to make another post in 3 weeks. Heh. Well, back to homework, I guess.

Another weekend, another LAN, another awesome time

Last weekend was another LAN weekend. I left from work at approximately 4pm on Friday afternoon and did not return to Minneapolis until 3pm on Sunday afternoon. There were a lot more people in attendance this month than in April (the last LAN I attended). I figure this is because it is now "summer vacation (whatever that means)."

We didn't play many games or watch many movies this LAN. In fact, people played a lot of the new game Prototype. Prototype is a single-player game... so, there wasn't much interaction for a great deal of the LAN. I played it for probably 5 hours or so. It is very enjoyable and it does not crash my computer. In the game, there is an disease outbreak in Manhattan, you have super powers, and apparently everyone is your enemy as you try to figure out what happened to you. I like it. If I get the chance, I will probably play the rest of the game.

Katherine also came to the LAN party, with The Ghost in tow. The Ghost is the name I gave to the computer I found on the curb. Fixed up with RAM, a new harddrive, and a fresh windows install, it works fairly well for most of the games that are played at the LAN parties. Granted, we play a lot of things like Starcraft and Diablo 2. Games from our childhoods. Le sigh. She seems to really enjoy the LAN and it gives her the chance to talk to nerdy boys and get away from Minneapolis. :-p

In other news, I took a different route to work this morning. Hennepin to 394W to 100S to 62W to 212. I left at about 7am and arrived here at 7:20am. Whoa. I am used to getting here in about 45 minutes. It is probably a combination of when I left and the route I took. I think I'll stick with this time schedule. This means I can probably leave work at about 4pm every day. I can dig it.

I hope to post another blog entry about grad school and what's been going on with all of that business. I also hope to post some of the new music I've been hearing on the radio on my way to work.

*goes back to comparing gerber files*

New Job n Stuff

I've been rather busy the last few days, but I've got a few minutes so I figured I'd write a little bit about my new job.

On Monday I started work as an intern for a company that designs, builds, and manufactures rapid prototyping machines. These machines are essentially ink jet printers that instead of giving you a 2D picture on paper give you a 3D plastic model. Pretty interesting stuff. They brought me on this summer after experiencing layoffs in February and needing more help with projects. In my first two days, I've received a whirlwind tour of the facilities and an overview of the technology. I'm still a little confused, but as I get more in depth with my work, hopefully things will become more clear.

The worst part about my job is the commute. I hate driving in the metropolitan area, and I generally avoid traveling at rush hour at all costs. The freeways are packed, the cars are occupied solely by the driver, people are on cell phones... I hate it. Unfortunately, I must drive what is normally a 25 minute drive every morning and every evening. I believe it is approximately 40 miles round trip. On my first day (Monday), I left early. The traffic wasn't terrible... but it was bad enough to cause me to slam on my brakes, giving the ambulance traveling behind me the opportunity to see if it liked how my bumper tasted. It gave it a lick, but found the paint unappealing. After assuring the ambulance driver that I was indeed okay, I made it to work. I also faced rush hour on the way home from work as well, needing to leave at precisely 5pm. One thing they never tell you is that "Minnesota Nice" does not apply when driving and when given the opportunity, drivers are asses. Highway 62E has a stretch of one-lane traffic due to road construction. Miles leading up to this juncture are slow going, sometimes crawling more slowly than my speedometer cares to register. Upon reaching the bottleneck, traffic moves freely at a normal 40-60mph. If everyone obeyed the merge signs properly and cordially, perhaps it would not be as much of a hold up.

Anyway, I'm done ranting. I've got to get to work!

pssst... LAN PARTY THIS WEEKEND YAY!

Today, on my way into work...

Today is my first day of work at my new job.

I left early this morning, not knowing what traffic would be like.

The roads were fairly packed, but at least we were moving.

Then somebody slammed on their brakes.

The ambulance driving behind me smashed into my car.

I was rear ended by an ambulance.

There is no permanent damage.

As long as you don't count the damage I inflict upon others when I tell them this story.