Archive for January, 2005
It’s been a bit of a slow week, but I’ve been entertaining a number of different tasks. I’ve submitted my resume to a couple more companies this week after doing some more searching and research.
Lutron Electronics is an industry leader in both residential and commercial lighting control. The company has recently expanded their product line with wireless control devices and web-based control systems.
Scientific Atlanta is a leading provider of value-added solutions for cable television networks. They have recently introduced a product line to provide DVR functionality to multiple household TVs from a central location.
I met with Ronald this Saturday at Tech and we went to Duluth for pool at Jillian’s, a meal at Steak ‘n Snake, and a visit to the nearby Fry’s. Jillian’s was really crowded, but we had a lot of fun. It took me a while to warm up my game, but I played pretty well at the end.
I was messing around with Photoshop the other day and I did some freehand scribbles. I thought a couple of them came out pretty well. They’re supposed to have a sketchbook quality and they were done entirely with a mouse so nothing too fancy. These were fun to make though.
Finally, my baby hit 200,000 miles! Yay! I took a picture to capture the moment. I’ll post it after I figure out how I’m going to handle images under the new layout.
It took most of today to collect my thoughts after a nice, relaxing weekend in Auburn, Alabama, with friends and family. I left Atlanta Friday afternoon and stayed through Monday afternoon. We watched movies, played games, and enjoyed both home-cooked and dine-in cuisine. Mom & Dad and Grammy & Granddad even came up for the day Saturday to see me, which made the weekend pretty special. It’s not often that all of us get together at one time and place.
Shaun of the Dead vastly exceeded my expectations. I was expecting some clichéd Army of Darkness remix, but I was pleasantly surprised with a movie that is actually pretty accurately described by its tagline, "A romantic comedy. with zombies." It’s great. Watch it.
Harald and Kumar Go to White Castle didn’t seem nearly as entertaining as I thought it would be. I was expecting a dumb, fun movie along the lines of Road Trip, and this one just didn’t hold my interest. I was playing World of Warcraft through most of the movie, so my experience may have been colored by other distractions. I think a re-viewing will be necessary.
Meet the Fockers basically re-hashes Meet the Parents as one would expect. It’s funny and it’s way over the top, but it’s ultimately more of the same. Greg’s parents, played by Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand, are really the only interesting new additions to the formula. It’s worth seeing if you’re a fan of the first movie.
World of Warcraft really tanks on my PowerBook. My PowerBook is over two years old now, though, so I guess I can’t complain too much about performance. I can appreciate that Blizzard still develops for the Mac in a time when many other developers have long since thumbed their nose at Apple’s platform.
You asked for it and you got it.
You can now view and post comments about any post on my weblog. Text_Wiki markup rules apply. The web page and e-mail fields are optional and will not be shown if you leave them blank. I would prefer that you do include your name, if only your given name, to keep the flow of comments coherent.
Here are some examples of how TextWiki markup can be used. For more, see the TextWiki sample page.
- Strong Text
- **this** becomes this
- Emphasis Text
- //this// becomes this
- Strong and Emphasis Text
- **//this//** becomes this
- Web Links
- [http://www.acpstudios.net/ My Link] becomes My Link
I had my first phone interview yesterday. My corporate contact at Micron contacted me at about noon to set up the phone interview for about 4 PM that afternoon. It was a strictly technical interview and it lasted about 40 minutes. My interviewer asked me some pretty simple questions about programming and semiconductors (samples follow). At the end of the interview, my interviewer expressed in interest in seeing my academic transcript and told me to stay in touch with the recruiter. All told, I think it went pretty well, plus I have a better idea of what to expect in the future.
Here are some samples of the types of questions I was asked.
- Tell me about pointers.
- Tell me about data structures.
- Tell me about object-oriented programming.
- What is the difference between C and Java?
- What is the effect of doubling the area of a capicator’s plates?
- What is the effect of halving the distance between the plates?
- What is does an accumulator do?
I’m sitting here waiting for the thermal epoxy mating my motherboard’s northbridge chip and a new heatsink to fully cure. The heatsink is a Cooler Master and the epoxy is an Arctic Silver product; both were purchased from Fry’s Electronics in Duluth on the outskirts of town in two separate trips after the original northbridge fan on my IC7-G motherboard started complaining loudly. The new heatsink came with mounting pins and thermal tape, but the IC7-G lacks proper holes to use the pins and the tape failed to stick after several tries (probably because I failed to thoroughly clean the chip before installation). The good news is that the epoxy seems to make a very string bond and the bad news is that it cost more than the heatsink in the first place.
Fry’s is as good as others have made it out to be. It’s huge; I would guess roughly the size of three or four regular Best Buy or CompUSA stores. And it’s size contributes to a massive selection of products. One entire side of an aisle dedicated to flashlights! How cool is that? One thing I noticed is that they not only carry a lot of different types of products, but they also carry a lot of different brands for each type. Smaller stores like Office Depot may have networking equipment, but they will only carry one or two brands (say D-Link and Belkin, but no Linksys or Netgear), so you usually end up hopping from store to store. Their prices seem modest, nothing to scream about; I’ve read that their specials are where the real deals are (e.g., a 25" TV for $99 during the grand opening). All in all, it’s the closest thing to a hobbyist’s dream store; a must-see for any geek.
I’m back in Atlanta now, as the above commentary would suggest. The job-hunt is going slow, as I’m only getting started. I realize I’ve spent much of these past couple days since I got back fixing things on my PC. First of the agenda is Micron, since they were the only ones so kind as to respond to my inquiries at Tech’s Fall job fair. This will be my first experience with the normal hiring process of a sizable company. So far, I’ve been asked to fill out a questionnaire (which I still need to complete!). The questions are more difficult to answer than I had expected. Many of them seem aimed at someone who has had a few regular jobs in the industry. I’m a little daunted, but I’ll do my best.
