and the heart of the alvinator.
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Thursday, November 25, 2004 Lab Movings... So, I am working in the lab very often these days. I enjoy working in the lab because it is very hands on. I use o-scopes, logic analyzers, multi-meters, configure systems, debug problems, etc. In a big company, back at HP, there were quite a lot of resources we could use. One thing I realized in my current company is that there is lots of lab movings. The normal stuff such as taking hard drives, using monitors, memory is all quite common. Being in a smaller company, you have to keep better track of your stuff, since company culture is basically take whatever is not being used. My common strategy is to leave a system running, even though I'm not testing anything so that it at least looks like something is going on. People don't take equipment when systems are on. My 2 favorite stories. 1. So, I was given this USB drive to copy drivers over, transfer files to and from my desk to the lab computers. I specifically created a sticker label with my initials and put it on the USB flash drive. I usually kept pretty good track of it, and would take it with me to my desk, and to the lab. One day I couldn't find it anymore. I just went ahead and got another one. Now, when I get lab equipment, I get it from one person, so whenever I get hard drives, etc., it always looks like I'm losing a lot of stuff. Usually I'm getting stuff because I can't find my old stuff. Hahaha. Anyways, I think I found my lost flash drive, but I am not sure. It seemed to mysteriously end up with some other guy, who used it to copy files back and forth. I don't know this guy's name, but I'm almost 80% sure it is my drive, since nobody else was given a drive like that. I still don't know his name, but when I saw the drive, I was a bit peeved. I didn't get the full view of the drive, because then I could check for my initials. He hasn't left the drive sitting in the lab, so he's been pretty good about keeping it with him. Since then I got a new drive, but I find myself cringing a bit when I see him, wondering to myself if it is my drive he has. Maybe I'll confront him sometime, or follow him back to his desk. Hehehe. 2. This second incident happened two weeks ago. I have been testing parts in the lab, so have been keeping track of what I have been testing and stuff in a notebook. I have a huge stack of parts, and it's pretty obvious that I'm tracking stuff in this notebook. Anyways, I go to the bathroom and go back to the lab, and my notebook is missing. I'm like..."what the heck?" I search around, and find out the guys next to me took my notebook to write stuff down. I'm like..."Is that my notebook?" Hahahaha. In the "at the moment" debug attitude, engineers find and use whatever they can get their hands on. One concept that rings true and I think about sometimes, that I wanted to share with my readers. "It is easier to ask for forgiveness, than to ask for permission." I usually ask to use stuff in the lab, but have found sometimes, you just take stuff, and ask for forgiveness later. Hehehehe. posted by alvin | Thursday, November 25, 2004 Happy Thanksgiving To all my readers, happy thanksgiving. It was a good and chill today. Spent time at home finished Mandarin homework, and watched some football. Then Thanksgiving dinner with my immediate family. We have family dinners tonight, tomorrow and on Sat. too. posted by alvin | Thursday, November 25, 2004 Friday, November 19, 2004 Productive Work Week I had to go to a slew of meetings this week, and usually I don't go to any. I think I am getting more popular. Some random guy in the elevator asked if I was "Alvin." Woohoo. Anyways, we got a chip back recently, and am working on it, so I have been doing lots of debugging. It's been a good week. I usually don't work this hard, but since now I have ownership of the board, it's quite exciting. Physically, I still feel pretty beat up, but when you take 800mg. of Ibuprofen every day...well, you start to feel pretty good. PT appt. on Monday. Looking forward to playing bball again. posted by alvin | Friday, November 19, 2004 Friday, November 12, 2004 Physical Therapy Update thanks for your prayers. i'm not sure if all of you know, but since coming back from china, i have been having trouble walking correctly. the pain is mainly on my right side. i saw a doctor last week, and had a physical therapy appt. this morning. i saw a physical therapist this morning, and she gave me a set of exercises to do, to strengthen and stretch out my quads, hamstrings, iliotibial band, and my butt muscles (gluteus, etc.). she said the cause of all this is probably from excessive walking while in china and then sitting on the airplane for too long. she always says i don't walk correctly, and that i compensate through inward pronating my feet. she clearly saw the muscle degradation in my right leg. the x-rays on my right lower back, right knee and right hip didn't reveal much (normal wear and tear). the x-rays did show swollenness in my right knee. as we were going through the exercises, she told me to tighten my butt muscles, and i had trouble doing so on my right buttock. she then started teasing me, "you gotta' be kidding me." hahahaha. it was pretty funny. i thought to myself, "i have a very relaxed butt." anyways, she told me to tighten and use my butt muscles more regularly. i will try my best. =P. thanks for your prayers. i have another appt. set up for mon. 11/22. i feel relieved that this is not anything too serious. by the end, i should have a more toned butt too. woohoo. praise God. posted by alvin | Friday, November 12, 2004 Thursday, November 11, 2004 Physical Attractiveness It is fairly typical to see pretty girls with so-so looking guys. It's usually never the other way around. Bottom line is that guys (Christian guys too) like pretty girls . Girls are a lot more forgiving of guys for their looks, and for that, I am thankful. =P. In 1 Peter 3:3-5, "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight." The Christian books tell us that inner beauty is the most important, and I definitely agree. Christian dating books inform us that through time people become more attractive as they grow spiritually. I also agree with this. However, the books don't mention how important physical attractiveness actually plays into the process. When I was younger and more ideal in my thinking towards relationships, I was taken aback when people said that although the person is a great person, they weren't physically attracted to the other person, so they wouldn't go for them. I was like, "that is so shallow." However, as I grown older, less ideal, and more realistic, I've come to realize that it's okay not to like someone because you're not physically attracted. It's unfortunate, but a sad fact of life. People say that physical attractiveness can grow on you, which I do also agree. The question obviously becomes, how much physical attractiveness is enough? =P. posted by alvin | Thursday, November 11, 2004 New Jacket My company just distributed their new jackets this week. They were custom ordered, so I asked for some fashion help from Marina and Iris. Check it out: here. Maybe you'll see me soon in my new jacket with my company logo. As I know I like jackets big, I got an XL. Most peeps going by the sizing chart, got their jackets one size too small. I probably should have gotten a L. They looked at mine and said, yours is too big. I told them, "No, mine is fine because I would wear multiple layers (maybe at least 3), so I factored that in to my ordering size." Hehe. posted by alvin | Thursday, November 11, 2004 The Gym I finally went into the gym since about 2 weeks ago. I did a lot of stretching, and rode the bike for like 15 minutes. My right leg is still pretty messed up. I'm looking forward to PT tomorrow. I realized that Kaiser just sends you letters with all your test results. The primary care provider doesn't call you or leave messages, but just signs off on all these papers. Not very personal. Hehe. Anyways, I didn't really sweat yesterday at the gym, and if you have ever seen me work out, I sweat like crazy. So, yesterday was an anamoly. I sat in the hot tub doing some exercises. I used the steam room and sauna room for the first time ever. I checked the thermometer in the steam room and it's like 120 degrees, and my contacts were falling out. It felt pretty good though to be able to stretch and let me muscles relax, but I had to close my eyes, as my contacts felt like they were falling out. =P. I should do some swimming to get my exercise, but I don't really like to swim. hehe. posted by alvin | Thursday, November 11, 2004 Tuesday, November 09, 2004 Smoke and Fire... Yup. I turn on the board, and a part blows up. Hehehehe. Thanks to an inverted diode. The gate was always charged and the current had a straight path to ground. Anyways, after fixing that, things look good. Waiting for the chip to come in now. Woohoo. I was nervous yesterday. Oh, and btw...I got my mando MT back yesterday. I thought I got spanked last week, as I was throwing in some pin-yin with some characters, and was the 3rd to last person to leave the classroom...but drumroll please...a B+. Woohoo. I remember the good ol' days where I actually was a bit upset with getting a B+....ahh, how life changes. =P. Oh. It looks like most of my physical issues are now in my knee. I will see a PT on Friday to get an exercise plan, etc. I still don't have x-ray results yet, but I feel much stronger than the past couple weeks. Thanks for your prayers. My next entry will be a relationship entry, so check back soon. posted by alvin | Tuesday, November 09, 2004 Monday, November 08, 2004 2nd Board Back Today, I get the 2nd board back that I designed. I saw the raw PCB two weeks ago, and no shorts on it. Woohoo. A bit excited, with a twinge of fear, as any mistakes that I have made will be reflected in the board. The smoke and fire test is always the first test to run. =P. posted by alvin | Monday, November 08, 2004 Wednesday, November 03, 2004 Hospital Visit Today I went to the hospital and saw a nurse practicioner. I'm changing to a real doctor very soon. Anyways, I have stuck with her because she is usually available for same day or next day visits, so it makes it convenient. However, she always orders an excessive amount of things (tests, samples, etc.), to make sure she has all her bases covered. Today I had an 11:15 appt., and actually saw her around 11:45 a.m. I mainly went in for my hip issues. She is recommending me to get some physical therapy (the PT dept. will call me back), and she gave me some ibuprofen and woohoo...drum roll please...vicodin. She checked range of motion with my hip, and said I probably have a sore butt. She has KOed all of my workout activities, and said, "even if walking hurts, don't walk." Very interesting. I feel like I need some strength building activities along with stretching to get better. Anyways, I told her I had some knee issues, and some back issues, which is 95% caused by my hip problems, and she decided to get x-rays of everything. The x-ray lady said, "what's wrong with you? you're too young to have so many problems...and don't see a nurse practitioner next time. she orders too many x-rays. see a doctor." X-ray lady also said, "are these problems caused by chasing too many girls?" i'm like...what the..."i go, i'm a good boy." hahahahaha. Anyways, i'm outta' commission for any type of active activity. Boo, I'm not happy. Mainly frustrated that I can't do the things I used to do. A time to reflect and slow down I guess. =P. posted by alvin | Wednesday, November 03, 2004 Tuesday, November 02, 2004 Physically Beat-Up Hmm...I have never felt this physically weary before for an extended period of time. My legs feel really heavy and sore. I feel ver weak. I have been having trouble sleeping, so that I don't feel very rested when I get up in the morning. My back is giving my trouble and my hip is still bothering me that I am limping around. When physically you don't feel well, other aspects of your life don't work out too well. I realize I am getting old, but it shouldn't be like this. =P. Please pray for healing. posted by alvin | Tuesday, November 02, 2004 |
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