I showed up bright and early at 8:30 AM yesterday for a round of interviews at BarcoView, the Duluth branch of international display and visualization expert Barco. The tour started the HR representative, who asked me a brief set of questions and then filled me in on the company’s history and benefits package. Next, I met my potential boss and he asked me a few more questions and then filled me in on what his group does, which is primarily to do build-to-order work for speciality markets like military, avionics, and medical devices. After that, I met with a couple more Barco employees who were also Georgia Tech alumni and we discussed the kind of work they did and various trends in technology. Quite honestly, it felt more like a tour than an interview. Finally, I really did get a tour of the facilities with my would-be supervisor where I got to see some neat stuff like the assembly floor, the QA department, and a high-resolution display prototype (one of only two in the world). I felt like the visit went quite well and everyone I met was nice and personable.
A week or so ago, I was happy to receive my replacement Linksys WMP54Gv4 wireless card; my previous WMP54Gv2 suffered repeated antenna problems until I finally RMA’d the card. Since that time, the wireless link that connects my PC to the Internet has given me no end of fits. The symptoms: repeated and seemingly random disconnects from the wireless AP (a Linksys WRT54G). My PowerBook exhibits no problems connecting to the same AP.
After digging a little deeper, I found a trail of postings surrounding the Wireless Zero Configuration service (WZC) under Windows XP. Wired has a article covering the topic (see: Windows XP Bedevils Wi-Fi Users), and Overclockers.com has a slightly more useful compilation of tips and user experiences (see: WiFi PC Cards - Frequent Disconnects Fix). For now, I’ve disabled WZC and configured Linksys’s bundled utility to manage my wireless connection. Most vendors, Linksys included, seem to be heavily pushing the use of WZC under Windows XP, but I’ve had my share of problems with it.
Happy Valentine’s Day! Hope everyone is enjoying the day with friends and loved ones. I even drew a new image for the occasion! This year, I’m both single and jobless. The single part really doesn’t bother me that much, but I really don’t like not knowing where I’m going to be in the next two months.
Mom sent me a nice iTunes gift card, so I took the opportunity to browse the iTunes Music Store (iTMS) again this morning. I noticed that a number of artists that previously had either no presence or a poor presence on iTMS now have a good selection of work to pick from; some examples of the additions I noted are Sepultura and Eddie Izzard. I still can’t find the music I really want (e.g., boa), but it’s noticeable progress.
I would say that, on the whole, it’s been a pretty productive week. On the job front, I’ve applied to Google (the definitive search-all company), Cerner (a Kansas City health care technology firm), UDA Technologies (a construction management software developer in Auburn, AL), and Top Flight Concepts (a small software company located at the Cobb Galleria here in Smyrna). I also had a pretty good exchange over the phone with the manager of the local Consoles & Systems Integration unit for Barco. After I hear from their HR department, I should be headed out to Duluth for an on-site visit.
I also set up a meeting on Thursday with George Riley, one of my favorite professors from Georgia Tech. He has always shown a genuine concern for students and he taught a number of courses coinciding with my areas of interest; namely, software and computer architecture. We talked about a variety of subjects from how to sell oneself as a Tech graduate to MBAs and academia. I felt like I got a lot out of it. I took a few significant things away from it. For one, Prof. Riley encouraged me not take a job that isn’t what I really want (i.e., just to have a job). Also, he suggested considering a small, startup company rather than a larger, well-established corporation (the reasoning being that I could get more out of it).
It was also after this meeting that I began to seriously consider pursuing a career in the gaming industry. I can say without any shame that, at 22 years old, I still love video games. They’re the reason I got into computers and the passion for games that I had as a kid has never really faded. So, how do I make that work for me? The obvious answer is that I should try applying to some game developers. I’m not sure it’s that simple, though. Maybe I’m just making excuses.
My parents were in town this Saturday searching for home improvement ideas from the local speciality shops that only a sizeable city like Atlanta can provide (or so you’d think). From what I understand, they didn’t have much luck finding anything. Regardless, I got to enjoy some fine meals from Chin Chin V and Ray’s on the River. A made a point of taking them to our Fry’s; I don’t think they were impressed. I also wanted to take them to Jillian’s since it was in the same area, but the place was just packed.
Mom and Dad left on Sunday and I turned to web design and personal development. I reworked the integration between blog entries and gallery images such that the inlined thumbnails have been replaced with a simple image count (similar to how comments are handled) that will link to a full thumbnail gallery. The reasoning behind this is to save people page load times an generally improve the look of the site. Later on, I plan to make a full gallery where you can just browse pictures.
Along these same lines, I’ve started remastering pictures from my trip to China and I’ll eventually be removing all the old images and replacing them with the new. The new images benefit from common tweaks like auto-leveling that I never used when I originally posted the images last summer.
Finally, I’ve decided to pursue learning .NET. My initial project will be to create a Windows application that will set different wallpapers on each screen in a multi-monitor display. It’s a need of mine and I haven’t found any good applications for it yet. It should be a good learning experience. In the spirit of things, I downloaded and installed the Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Express Beta and made console and GUI "Hello World" applications. It’s ridiculously easy to do.
