DSP Ending

Almost two weeks ago I finished a class at UCI Extension. It was the fourth class I have taken there and was also the worst.

My problems ranged from the instructor being lazy and unhelpful, to the software in the lecture notes and textbook being over 5 years old and not supported anymore, to the circuit board I was using (that was suggested by the instructor) being different from the textbook and lecture notes.

I spent most of the time fighting with the user interface on the Texas Instruments Code Composer Studio and trying to get the labs to run on my circuit board. Instead of learning the concepts, I was trying to find work arounds for my newer software and different hardware.

Every time I fixed one problem, another thing popped up. I would hunt around and find a header file I needed, only to realize I had to export my results to MATLAB and write a script that displayed a picture that was supposed to tell me something about dynamic memory. There were also several exercises where I had to run through a dozen different iterations to get my graphs to look like the ones in the book. Then there were things in how the software behaved I still cannot explain such as why certain options were grayed out or not available on my computer.

The other people in the class had professional experience with some aspects of the course before, while I had none. Other people would know to link to a different library file or make changes to the code, while I did things through trial and error or following the advice of everyone else in the class.

If this was the first UCI Extension class I had taken, it would be my last. It was one of the most frustrating classes I have ever taken. In other classes I knew if I spent the time to understand the textbook and reproduce the problems from the lecture notes I could figure things out. Here, even if I instantly learned the textbook and the instructor's uninstructive notes I would still have a host of problems.

As an example of one of my mistakes and the instructor's laziness, I will give a problem. Lets say you have a string of numbers:

X=[2,4,5,7]

This has to be divided into two different sequences (each half the length of the original) for using decimation in time to calculate an answer. The two strings are odd and even, as defined by the entries' indexes. The idea is to put every other entry in the same sequence. I divided the above string into these two.

X odd = [2,5]
X even = [4,7]

This makes sense, except it is wrong. For sequences in many applications, the numbering starts at 0. This means the first entry is even instead of odd. The correct answer is:

X odd = [4,7]
X even = [2,5]

This is a mistake on my part and something I should have been more careful about looking up. I accept I should lose points on this. However, the final was multiple choice so instead of losing points once for making this one mistake, I lost points twice because my answers to both "What is the odd string?" and "What is the even string?" were wrong.

If the instructor actually took the time to have everyone submit a Word document or PDF with their answers instead of creating a multiple choice quiz, my one mistake would have been seen as the one mistake it was instead of the two mistakes it appeared to be. I documented a problem with multiple choice tests earlier in this class.

What are the roots of 5x^2 = 0? Last time I checked, there was one root, 0. However, the genius instructor thinks it has two roots, 0 and 0. Saying it has a root of 0 and no second root is considered an incorrect answers on his multiple choice test. If I checked through the test and saw this earlier, I would have confronted him about it. However, since I was traveling and not near a computer between the time he posted the solutions and submitted the grades, I could not address it.

I ascribe a lot of problems to this being an online class. If the instructor actually had to stand in front of a classroom and be bombarded by the questions and issues that the assignments brought up he would change the assignments and not use multiple choice tests. I am tempted to say some very unkind words about this instructor, so I should stop now. I will invoke something I wrote a while ago: "No good will come of rehashing events that make me angry and no one who reads the post will be better off because of it."

The next step
Before I finished the class, I knew I had to get a B or better for the class if I wanted to count it toward the certificate program. I was very displeased when I saw I had a C+. However, upon careful examination of the website I realized I needed a grade point average of B or better as opposed to a B in every class. Since I had As in two other classes I took, I could count this last class toward the certificate. I felt much better.

Now I will wait until September to finish the last class in this program. However, I will be keeping busy with other academic things until then. I will be taking a real engineering class that does not use obsolete software or have a joke of an instructor.

A week of movies, a weekend of classes

For the last week I have been home alone. I flew home after Michigan while my family drove to western New York. I came home so I could work on my DSP class which ends on Saturday. I have enjoyed having the house to myself, even if I did less work than I wanted.

While everyone has been gone, I have been watching movies. It is hard to watch movies on the big TV when people are home. I am the only person here who appreciates the finer points of cinema. Using the wonders of Netflix, in the last week I watched:

• Black Swan This was a descent into a dark world. My only complaint is how they tried to show Nina becoming the Black Swan using computer graphics. Any performance good enough to win an Oscar does not need to be cgied up.


• The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day I wanted to see this because I enjoyed the original. That was a bad idea. This movie copied too much from The Boondock Saints without retaining the same charm.


• Easy A This was fun to watch. I have also seen signs for Ojai, CA where it was set and filmed off the 101.


• Mystic River I spent more time keeping the characters and their stories straight than I wanted to.


• X-Men One of the few comic based movies I have seen.


• Juno Juno as well as Ellen Page's character of Ariadne in Inception are both named for classical mythological figures.

If that were not enough, I also watched Love and Other Drugs during a platelet appointment.

Via a link from AFJ's blog, (I hope it is OK with Aden if I call him AFJ) I also checked out the shorts listed under film on a friend's website. She wrote and directed them.

While everyone is gone I have been enjoying making and eating food. I have made everything from French toast and omelets for breakfast to quesadillas with tomatoes, olives, onions, chicken, and cheese for lunch. I even had a bacon, avocado, and cheese burger from Sammy's Burgers. As advertised, they have the best burgers in town (according to Sammy). Then there were the coupons for free food stuff with the purchase of other food stuff.

Saturday
On this coming Saturday I will be attending a class that will tech me light search and rescue as well as how to extinguish fires. It is part of a program called Community Emergency Response Team, or CERT. The idea is to train normal people how to respond to a massive earthquake. Since the regular first responders will be overwhelmed in a large scale disaster, CERT prepares people to help their neighbors in an emergency. On Saturday I will be at a fire training station to learn and practice how to rescue people in damaged buildings and deal with fires. It should be fun.

Also on Saturday night the final for my DSP class is due online. I will be very happy when the class is over.

Sunday
Then I get to wake up early and drive to Berkeley. I am working to get an alumni group for Newman people up and running and we will be holding an event at 1 PM on Sunday. I think it is a horrible day for an event for a couple of reasons, but the people who are doing the work for the event are the ones who picked the day.

This should be taken as an official announcement I will be in and around Berkeley from Sunday until around Wednesday (plans are still amorphous) and want to see all of you who are near there. If you want to do something Sunday night, Monday night, or anytime Tuesday let me know.

Motor City, a Wedding, and Second Cousins

Two weekends ago I was in Detroit for a family wedding. My second cousin got married. Before I get to the interesting and fun, I will explain some family background and the genealogical term second cousin.

On my mom's side of the family, I do not have many close relatives. My mom is an only child. However, my mom is close to her cousins. When they were growing up they all lived near each other and would assemble at their grandmother's house every Sunday. Since my mom's cousins had a lot of children, I have a lot of second cousins.

Now a word on second cousins. Regular cousins (or first cousins) are the children of your parent's brothers or sisters. The closest common ancestor first cousins share are two of their grandparents. Second cousins are people whose closest common ancestor is two of their great grandparents. On my mom's side I am connected to my second cousins because we have the same great grandmother and great grandfather.

How well I know these people varies. In the mid 90s there were a few big family reunions. At some point I met all of my second cousins (cousins from now on). However, most of my cousins were a bunch of names I heard but did not know. Most of this is geography. My cousins currently live in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Georgia. When I lived in Ohio it was easier to see them occasionally, but that was 14 years ago.

In spite of the intervening time zones, I know a few of them to some degree. I know the ones who live 10 minutes from my grandma because I see them almost every time I visit her. I also know the ones who live in Michigan because my family did things with them. We saw them when we went to Detroit, went to sporting events with them, and even went to Montreal with them. The bride is from that family so I know a few things about her as well as her brother and sister.

Since I had not seen some of my cousins in 16 years, I had no idea who was who. My mom was clueless as well. She could tell me the names of Uncle Mike's or Uncle Joe's children, but she could not match the names with faces. I spent a long time talking to who I thought was Gabby, but I learned the next day it was actually Tori. It was only after I asked my aunt for help that I got everyone's name correct.

I learned my cousins are up to varied things such as:

• Training to be a mad scientist. He is pursuing a degree in chemistry and German.


• Preparing to be a priest. He is a few years into the seminary.


• Obsessed with doing the creep from this Saturday Night Live video. I thought she was dancing like a t-rex until she explained it.


• Watching the TV show Burn Notice. It is her favorite show and she watches it with her husband.


• Looking for a major related to art and being involved with Newman activities at her college.


• Living every little girl's dream. She has a horse named Patriot.


• Frequenting the local bars and being friends with the sample girls for Dewar's Scotch.

I did not have a chance to learn something interesting about all of the 11 of my cousins who were there. All I learned about Emily is she is blond.

I should throw in a picture, so here is Annie and me.



Detroit
I did a lot of driving in the Motor City. Before leaving home, I decided to memorize the locations of the airport, my hotel, the church, the reception, some local places to eat, and how to drive between all of them. The first day I was there I drove 208 miles. I drove on such freeways as the 94, the 75, the 696, the 275, and even the 96.

Here is a wedding program, favors, and some cereal that is made in Detroit.


I would have put my own name tag in this picture, but it was thrown away. Sometime between talking to my cousin Gabby and the band finishing Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" it disappeared from my table.

Being in Detroit reminded me that a lot of places have a lot of differences from Orange County. There are places where every block is not tightly packed with as many houses and stores as possible. The houses in Michigan had big yards and the cities were spread out. In a similar vein, are you familiar with pop? If you want a soft drink in Michigan everyone calls it pop, not soda or coke. If you want to learn more this map shows the regional distribution of what terms people use to describe soft drinks.

On one last Detroit centered comment, at the wedding they played Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'." I learned there is no South Detroit. It is either Windsor, Canada or someplace downtown.

Frankenstein and his Monster

Yesterday I finished reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. I liked it.

Images and ideas based upon this almost 200 year old book have steeped into culture so much I do not need to give a summary. It should be noted that Victor Frankenstein is the person who creates and enlivens the creature. The creation/monster is not named in the book.

I have a complaint about the book. A couple of Frankenstein's actions are not in character. I do not want to give away important details of the book (like the introduction and text notes of my edition did), but I will provide one example.

After Frankenstein finishes his creation and gives him life, he runs away from his creation. It is very hard for me to imagine a scientist running away from the success of his greatest experiment. Any scientist who cares about his work would be obsessed with observing and studying every detail of his great creation.

Reading the introduction of my Barnes and Noble classic edition, I was reminded of every reason why I do not like literary criticism. Almost any theory can be applied to anything. I had no idea this one novel had incestuous undertones and a man suffering from postpartum depression. The blurb on the back of the book only prepared me for a story that dealt with the nature of life, the place of humankind within the cosmos, and what responsibilities we have to each other. This summary drawing explains my feelings.

As if that was not enough, the introduction revealed critical details of the story that followed it. It takes a special kind of story killer to mention the book's final scene in the first paragraph of an introduction.

In defense of the introduction and story killing notes, they brought up a lot of interesting things. The biographical information about Shelley and what books she was influenced by illuminate many things. It seems she was surrounded by literary figures of the Romantic period.

There is one bias I must admit. Ever since I first heard about the Romantics in English class in high school I have been suspicious of them. After hearing my teacher Brother Aquinas talk about Romantic writers I thought equating them with important literary figures was a mistake.

Check out the original Frankenstein and his creation. The book is short at only 200 pages.