Now that finals are over

Yesterday I finished my last final of the semester.

Since August 1st of this year, I have been enrolled in one, two, or even three electrical engineering classes all the time. Ever since August my life has been crazy. Most of the time it has been the good kind of crazy.

Now I need to plan some fun things to do. So far this is what I have:

• Bake Christmas cookies with my grandma. If it is anything like last year, this could be a full time job.
• Go to San Diego to watch the Bears play in the Holiday Bowl.
• Celebrate New Year's Eve in Las Vegas.
• Read some of the books I have around me.
• Create a promotional video for a retreat program at church.

I still need to think of a few more things to do. On the practical academic side, I want to learn about electrical circuits and electrical parts. A few times this semester a question has come up where I thought, "I do not know that, but I convinced the graduate adviser I did." I will be taking a senior level class on analog circuits next year, so there are a few things I should learn beforehand.

This weekend, Terrance is coming to town!, I have a secret Santa thing, and I want to send out Christmas cards. If you want to get on the card list, let me know and send me your address.

Last day of class and some answers

Yesterday was my last day of class for the semester at Long Beach. I am not looking forward to my final on Wednesday. However, I do not want to lament one of my grades. I have something more important to talk about.

Being the last day of class, it would be the last time I would see and talk to the girl for a while. I wanted some answers. I do not remember the conservation word for word, but these are the main points.

Me: "While we were getting to know each other earlier this semester, you never mentioned you had a boyfriend."
Her: "I didn't know I had to."
Me: "The way we were interacting, I thought we were heading toward a romantic relationship."
Her: "I am sorry if I led you on."

I am glad I know the truth. This means she is not a dishonest person, just a socially ignorant one. However, it means she did not share any of the romantic feelings I felt for her.

I still have two questions.

First, in the two plus months we knew and talked to each other she never had a story or comment that was connected to or included her boyfriend of three years. In that same time, I told her about the time I went backpacking in Arizona with my friends, when I drove to Pasadena to see a football game with friends, the time a friend taught me how to use a laser engraver, and a trip to see friends in Berkeley. Did she do nothing with her boyfriend that was worth mentioning?

Second, she said she did not think she had to mention her boyfriend. If asking her what she did over her weekends, getting coffee together after class, talking about what she liked doing with her time, giving her my homemade candy, talking about her family, and planning to see a movie and have dinner together do not present a single reason for her to mention her boyfriend to me I am at a loss. Should a boyfriend only be mentioned if I ask her "Do you have a boyfriend?"

Everyone I have talked to thinks she should have said something and she is the one at fault. I agree with them.

I could do a lot of speculation and analysis. However, it does not change the fact she broke my heart. Even if she did not mean to, she still did.

Change of mood
Writing everything above did not put me in a good mood, so I will change that. On Wednesday one of my friends showed me this picture on his phone.


I had added him as a Facebook friend earlier in the day and he found one of my classic profile pictures taken by Larry.

Send money NOW!

Last night I received this email from someone I know from church. For privacy, I replaced the name of the person who sent me the email with Jane Bloggs (according to the Unnamed Geniuses, Joe Bloggs is used as a placeholder name in the UK instead of John Doe).

I am sorry i did not inform you about my trip and I do hope that you receive this email in good health. I am presently in Great Britain,London to be with my ill Cousin. She's suffering from a critical uterine fibroid and must undergo a hysterectomy surgery to save her life . I am deeply sorry for not writing or calling you before leaving, the news of her illness arrived to me as an emergency and that she needs family support to keep her going, I hope you understand my plight and pardon me.

Hysterectomy surgery is very expensive here, so I want to transfer her back home to have the surgery implemented there am wondering if you can be of any assistance to me with her hospital bills including ticket fees, I need about £1800 Pounds to make the necessary arrangement; I traveled with little money due to the short time I had to prepare for this trip and never expected things to be the way it is right now. I'll surely pay you back once I get back home, I need to get her home urgently because she is going through a lot of pain at the moment and the doctor have advised that it necessary that the tumor is operated soon to avoid anything from going wrong,she is currently taking care of at the Intensive care unit of the hospital and currently I am with her in there and i am restricted to make or receive any calls due to the patients in there but i have access to the Internet.

I would appreciate anything you can do to help me,i promise to repay the money back to you as soon as I get back home safely with my cousin. Please if you have a Western Union office around you send the money to my name and address below, i know this is not in your budget now but i promise to refund the money to you as soon as i get back home and have access to my account.

Name:Name: Jane Bloggs
Address: 1 Eversholt Street,
London, NW1 2DN,
Great Britain


I await your mail as soon as possible so that i can be able to receive the money today, Please let me know any information given to you after sending the money or preferably scan the receipt of the Western Union money transfer so that it will be safer for me to receive.

Please I await your early reply
Regards

When I started reading this email, I was concerned for the person and her cousin. She was supposed to be at a meeting the next night I was going to.

As I read on I became suspicious. Why would she ask for money in pounds? Why had I not heard about her cousin in London? Why is there a sad story followed by a request for money to be sent Western Union to an address followed by a request for a scan of the receipt? Why is there not a single reference to anything specific to this person, me, my relationship to her, where either of us live (only "home"), or how we know each other? Why is Name: listed twice? Why is the name in the email exactly the same as the name on the account? Why did this end up in my spam folder? (partially explained by) Why was I BCCed?

I know this person from church, but not that well. Why would she ask me for money instead of her family or close friends? Why would she write an email that sounded so differently from her other emails and the way she talked?

The answer is simple. Someone hacked her email account and is trying to con me into sending money.

If you ever get an email, facebook message, or other communication like the one above from a friend, it might be a scam. Ask yourself the questions I just raised. Do not let your desire to help someone overshadow the need to investigate the story. Call the person and ask if she is in the country.

My favorite part: Western Union? Going to an office? Are we in the days of the Pony Express?

Let's go Bowling

For a while I have wanted to get my wonderful readers involved in doing things. I think I see all of you too little.

On Wednesday December 28th at 5 pm the California Golden Bears will be playing Texas in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego.

I have three reasons why Cal alumni should go:

1. Trips are fun.
2. You will get to see people, these things usually end up as Newman reunions.
3. It will be revenge against Texas. As I explained in an email earlier today:

If I have my way, Cal will go USC on Texas and beat them 50-0. This goes back to '04 when Cal had one of its best teams in the last 50 years. Our only loss was a close game at USC, the #1 ranked team in the country. We also had a great quarterback in Aaron Rodgers. We were ranked #4 going into the final week of the season, while Texas was #5 (all rankings BCS). Cal won its game in the last week, while Texas had already finished their season. The Texas coach got on TV and asked voters to vote his team higher than “less deserving teams.” He whined like a little girl, and Texas fans lobbied the voters. In the final result, Texas got a push up in the poll voting to make them #4, and Cal was voted down enough to be #5. This meant Texas got invited to the Rose Bowl, while Cal was denied their first chance to play there in 45 years.

I want Texas destroyed.

Who wants to go to the Holiday Bowl and watch the Bears play?

If you are interested, let me know and we can coordinate tickets, rooms, transportation, and having fun in general. I went to the Poinsettia Bowl a couple of years ago in San Diego and it was a success (except for the results of the game).

I have talked to, texted, emailed, and facebook messaged people about attending the game. So far two people have indicated they are interested, two more would go if they had the time or money (including fees tickets can approach $100), and one has not gotten back to me, but he would have to be 1,000 miles away before he would consider saying no.

I will be there and I plan on having fun.

Radios and Driving

Today in class my friend asked me what I did this weekend. He asked if I went to Arizona again. I had to say, "No, but I did make it to Nevada."

A week ago my friend from church asked if I was available on Friday and Saturday. He was conducting a radio frequency test and wanted my help. He is involved with setting up a medical radio network for an annual relay race from Baker to Las Vegas. Since I did not have anything planned, I went on the trip.

I woke up around 3:15 on Friday morning and drove to my friend's house. He then drove us to Baker. If you are not familiar with the city of Baker, it is know for two things: having the world's tallest thermometer and being one of the the major stops on the 15 on the drive to Las Vegas.

Our first task was to put up three radio transmitter towers. These were placed at three different sites as far as 100 miles away from Baker. Next each of the transmitters had a setup to transmit a test signal every minute on a specific frequency. Setting those up and getting them up and running took all day.

While the area is a desert, it was cold. It dropped below freezing in some places during the night. On Saturday there was a lot of wind. I was outside for just two hours in the morning and the wind was unrelenting. I had a jacket, hat, and gloves but it was not enough. I was cold.

During the trip many problems came up. They were all the result of working on things until the last minute and poor planning. My friend was frustrated these issues appeared, but he also knew what steps to take to fix them for next time. Everything required was accomplished, but there was a lot of work, calibration, fixing, and figuring things out in the field. I hope I can help fix or reduce many of these problems.

We set up three cars with radio receivers which then drove the race course at 25 mph. Every minute the strength of each of the three radio transmitters was recorded along with the position of the vehicle. When the data are analyzed, we will be able to see if there are any areas on the course with poor radio coverage.

I liked seeing how radio transmitters are set up in the field and tested. The ideas involved were simple, but watching them come together and work was great. When issues came up everyone had to improvise, so I saw a lot of problems solved.

Learning to Drive
The most exciting thing for me was learning how to drive a vehicle with a manual transmission. For those of you not in the know, operating a manual transmission can be a lot of fun. However, there is a big learning curve. Making a mistake will cause the car will start moving when you want it to stay still or stay still when you want it to move. Hopefully when these thing happen you will not hit anything.

In cars with a manual transmission/stick shift/standard transmission there is a third pedal for the clutch and a stick on the floor to select a gear. The driver needs to select the best gear based upon the amount of torque and speed the car needs. When a car is just starting to move, it needs a lot of torque. However, after the car is moving, it needs less torque and more speed. In the truck I drove, the gears are labeled 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and Reverse. There is also Neutral, which is when none of them are selected. You start the car in 1 and after the car is moving you can hear the engine turn faster and faster. Looking at the tachometer and listening to the engine, you can tell when the car needs to be shifted into a higher gear. Putting the car into a higher gear is the easy part.

My biggest problem was starting the car or getting it moving after a complete stop at a stop sign, stop light, or after some pedestrians ran right in front of me. You have to release the clutch pedal and apply gas at the right time. If you release the pedal too fast or do not apply the right amount of gas, the engine will stall and you will have to turn the key to start it up again. While this is happening, the car is not braked so you could be rolling backwards if you are on an incline. This weekend I only stalled the engine twice in the middle of traffic. When I tried to start the car on a hill it took me a few tries and the cab was filled with the smell of ground metal as the gears smashed into each other.

Breaking and slowing down are also different. To brake, the clutch pedal has to be pushed in before the brake is applied and as long as the brake is in use. If the brake is pressed while the clutch is still engaged, the engine will stall. If there is significant slowing, you will need to downshift to a lower gear for when you start applying the gas again.

Like any skill, driving a manual transmission is something that gets better after more practice. I drove over 200 miles this weekend, but most of that was high speed highway driving. I still need to practice a lot of stop and go driving.

Victory on the road against ASU

This weekend and last weekend I went on trips. Both of them were planned a few days ahead of time, involved driving to another state, and were fun. They were so interesting I broke them into two different posts.

This one is about last weekend. It was Thanksgiving weekend and I went to Arizona to watch the Bears play their last regular season football game.


Earlier in the week Sidney posed on Facebook saying he was interested in going to the game and looking for people who wanted to join him. I was interested, so I replied. Sidney and I have been on many road trips together and they always result in fun.

On Friday morning I left my house and picked up Sidney. When we were on the 60 traffic slowed to a crawl. Sidney pulled out his phone and discovered there was a six car pileup in front of us on the freeway. He then figured out an alternate route so I could exit the freeway and take country roads instead. I followed his directions and after ten minutes of driving I was speeding along the 10. His phone projected our new route saved us one hour.

We were going to stop near Palm Springs and check one of the outlets for Cal attire, but there were a lot of people. Apparently even at noon in the middle of nowhere on black Friday there are a ridiculous number of people shopping. Cars were parked on every street, people were selling spaces on their lawn, and golf carts were ferrying people from their cars to stores.

We got to Tempe about an hour before kickoff. There were plenty of spaces in our lot across the street from the stadium. After buying tickets, we walked around the outside of the stadium. It was on the edge of the ASU campus and downtown Tempe. We saw dorms, stores, restaurants, city buildings, a statue of Charles Trumbull Hayden, and some natural landscaping around the stadium.

We entered the stadium and took our seats. As can be seen from the pictures, we were at the top of the stands in the corner of the stadium. Sidney was his usual game day self, which is loud. We wanted to make sure the ASU fans knew the Cal contingent was spirited despite our small numbers. When the Sun Devils made their appearance, fireworks were fired from the field.


The game was a lot of back and forth. Each team kept scoring. With 2:59 left in the first half, California kicked a field goal for a 27-14 lead. After the kickoff, I told Sidney it would be great if Cal could hold ASU back so they would not score in the final minutes of the half. Sidney told me he would be happy if we had the lead heading into halftime.

With 1:02 left on the clock ASU scored a touchdown. After the extra point, ASU kicked the ball to Cal. The return team grabbed the ball and starting running. However, the person with the ball was hit and fumbled, with ASU recovering it deep in Cal territory. After a few plays ASU got a touchdown.

My earlier hope of stopping ASU was too optimistic. Sidney's goal of Cal being in the lead at the half was more reasonable, but still too much of a reach.

During halftime, Sidney and I sat with Michael, who we know from Newman activities. He had a good spot near the 50 yard line and the people sitting near him left during the first half.

The second half was more back and forth. There were penalties, great plays, and even a call that needed a video review. In the end the Bears prevailed 47-38 to finish the season 7-5. Next up will be a bowl game. If I get my hands on a picture of Michael, Sidney, and myself I will post it. (Posted on 12/10)



The field after the game.


After the game all of us went to Chris's apartment. I know this Chris from more church related activities (at this point the game could be considered a Newman reunion) and learned about how he likes living in Arizona. The next morning Sidney and I saw Chris again and enjoyed a small outdoor food fair.

This was my second trip to another state to watch Cal play football. Like my first one to Oregon in 2007, I am glad to say it was a fun game to watch and the Bears won.

The trip was 788.7 miles and I drove the whole way. I went from my house to Sidney's parents' house to the 91, the 60, and then the 10. On the way back we stayed on the 60 until the 57 and took that to the 91.

The shock and the sadness

I do not think I have explained how much I have fallen for the girl in my class. From the way she looks to her personality, I really like her. From the first day I met her I was attracted to her. I knew it was a long shot we would ever get together, but I had to try. When I started talking to her we hit it off. The more I got to know her and spend time with her the more I liked her. Even better, she gave me signals she felt the same way about me. I was excited. Then we went out to see a movie and have dinner together. At some point during dinner between the laughing and easy going interactions between us I looked into her eyes. I knew being with her was not a far off dream, but a reality that was right in front of me.

A few days later I asked if she wanted to have dinner with me before our class together on Thursday. She said yes. On Thursday I counted down the hours until our dinner. She texted me to say one of her labs was taking longer than expected so she could not make it. However, I was happy because I still got to see her in class. Then it all fell apart. She told me she has a boyfriend.

I was shocked. Why would she go on a date with me if she has a boyfriend? How could the two of us spend so much time together and interact the way we did without her ever mentioning she has a boyfriend? How could she have said yes to my advances? How could her boyfriend of three years have not come up in all the personal questions I asked her? How could my questions of what she did over the weekend and who was texting her not uncover she had a boyfriend?

The questions are not just about her. I keep wondering if I did something wrong. Did I miss something she said? Did I not make my intentions clear? Should I have done something differently? How could this happen?

Ever since Thursday night I have been falling apart. Friday was the worst. I wanted to cry more times than I could count.

The shock and the sadness of the last few days has been overwhelming.

A lot of great things

A lot of things have happened since my last post. This last month has been a non-stop whirlwind for me.

I started volunteering for the city of Los Angeles. A friend from church works in one of the city's shops and told me I should be a volunteer there so he could teach me how their equipment works. So far, my work has included using a laser engraver, learning how to program a CNC machine, and coming up with ideas for a solar generator. Almost everything I am doing will be very useful when I look for a job. As if that is not enough, it is a lot of fun.

Tomorrow night I will embark on Larry's next great outdoor adventure. We are going to Havasu Falls in Arizona. Aside from hiking, we will be doing legitimate camping. On Friday we will hike 8 miles to the campsite where we will set up our tents. On Saturday Peter will separate the lambs from the sheep with a 16 mile round trip hike. On Sunday we will pack up all of our stuff and carry it the 8 miles back to our car, which will involve a 1,000 foot elevation change. This is the first time I have done hiking and backpacking where I had to carry my tent and everything to a separate campsite.

There have been over 100 emails planning and talking about this trip in the last few days. Everyone is focusing on getting the correct gear. While that is very important, I fear people are neglecting getting in shape for the strenuous physical activity of hiking with packs and an elevation change. A couple of weeks ago I restarted my bike riding. On Saturday I rode 16 miles, so I am getting into good cardiovascular shape. I would have ridden 16 miles again toady, but my tire found a nail in the road half a mile into my ride.

The forecast has rain and cold temperatures for the trip. As long as we don't get hypothermia or experience anything too unfortunate it will be great.

As I mentioned earlier, in one of my classes there is a girl I have a crush on. Yesterday we went on a date. It was great. We watched a movie and went to dinner. We interacted well. There was talking, laughing, and learning about each other. She had a good time as well. After dinner she referred to the next time we go out.

I am excited. I don't know what exactly it is, but there is something about her I am really attracted to.

I am excited about everything. For the first time in a long while I am looking forward to what the next couple of months will bring.

Classes at the Beach

I am about a third of the way through this semester at CSULB.

Class I like
So far my energy conversion class is going well. I am enjoying the class and the work makes sense. I got back my midterm last week and I did well. I got an 87, which was the second highest score in the class. The average was 58, with a high score of 100 and a low of 24. Somehow I have become friends with a wide cross-section of the students. Of my three friends in the class, one got the high score, the other the low score, and the third about average.

The one thing I need to fix is how much time I am putting into the homework. I am not finishing all of the problems or doing my best on all of them. It is not an issue of difficultly, I am just not putting in enough time. While homework is only 10%, I need to pick up every point I can.

Class I despise
The second of my two classes is communication systems. It is not going well for anyone. It is a waste of time for me, the other students, and the professor. So far he is the worst math or science professor I have ever had. He spent four weeks talking about Fourier transforms, but managed to avoid working out even one example. Most of the time he walks around the room pointing to people and asking them to answer the question he asked five minutes ago. "I don't know" and "What is the question?" are the most common responses, even for me. However, I usually manage to say something that is completely wrong when I am called on.

I think I am more confused about Fourier Transforms that when I started the class. If you are working on a campaign to end the tenure system, he is a great poster-professor.

So far I have perfect grades on the labs for the class. I have the good fortune of having a great lab group (see the person who scored 100 above). However, there has only been one homework assignment, which no one fully understood. Most people completed less than half of it, and even then it was a lot of scribbles on paper instead of intelligent work. There is a midterm on Wednesday and I think it will be a disaster for everyone.

Fun people
I am happy I am getting to know some of the students in my classes. In my waste of time class, I sit in the corner with my lab group and talk about the latest episodes of Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead (which just so happens to have its season premier tonight on AMC) before class.

As for the girl in class I like, I think things are moving along well. A few days ago I asked if she wanted to do something fun with me this weekend and she said she was babysitting for her out of town relative. I will ask again this week.

Fun project
Since I do not have any experience working on an engineering project, I joined a computers and robotics club. They have different teams working on various projects, such as an unmanned aerial vehicle, a fire fighting robot, and a mechanical arm. I am on a team of people (all two of us) that is building a micromouse. It is a small robot that is programmed to navigate a maze and find the shortest route from the corner to the center. Neither of us has built a robot before, so this will be fun.

Overall I am happy with how things are going at Long Beach. I wish I would have thought of going there a year or two ago.

Weekly Meetings

This is a summary post about what I have been doing at church that ends with commentary about the Bears.

For the last year I have been involved with a retreat program at church. It started as just one weekend, but it continued with weekly meetings. While I started out as a participant, I eventually joined in the planning and leadership for future retreats.

I helped plan the last weekend that was scheduled for August. However, the weekend had to be canceled because only two people signed up. Then the leaders of the group decided to stop holding the weekly meetings.

In case you are keeping track, this is the second weekly group I have been involved with at church that has died after I got very involved with it. The last one was a young adult group that died in the summer of last year.

That day in August was the end of the retreat program, or at least it should have been. However, one of the people did not want it to end. He talked to me and another person and we decided to keep meeting to keep the group alive. For the last few weeks the three of us have been meeting and planning how to restart the program.

When we met, there is prayer, discussion on the readings for the upcoming Sunday, and then I give a short presentation on a topic we are interested in. I have talked about Divine Mercy, basic Bible organization, how to use the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and the mysteries of the rosary. At one point I was identified as a scripture scholar, which is something I never expected.

Right now we are finding a second time to met every week because someone's work schedule was suddenly changed. Also, we are preparing for a dinner with the pastor. I do not know why we are meeting with him (it was other people in the group who planned it). I am worried because the presentation these other people created is very boring; I did not even read all of the first page. However, I created an exciting presentation plan to share with them.

This has taken up a few hours every Wednesday, a meeting this past Sunday, a meeting yesterday, and a couple of hours on the phone in the last week.

Weekly Bible Study
When I started taking classes at Long Beach, one of my priorities was to involve myself with the student life. My first day on campus I was approached by a student who invited me to a Bible study.

This is a one on one study of a different Gospel passage every week. The student (who is a good teacher) has brought up some good points. For example, being Christian is more than putting in the minimum of going to church and being a good person. It requires living for Jesus. However, the studies are more like reading comprehension exercises and lectures. The questions literally ask me to read a verse and answer a question. After I answer the question, which I am usually told I answered correctly, the person launches into a few minutes of explanation and commentary.

Today I was going to tell the person that I am not getting anything more out of the readings and our meetings. He gives great speeches and brings in some good examples, but I am beyond where he is teaching to. In addition, my commitments to my current church group have significantly increased, as I wrote about above.

However, I had to tell him I was not going to a retreat he invited me to attend. He was disappointed, so I did not want to tell him I would drop the weekly Bible studies as well.

As for attending his retreat, this is my choice: Cal at UCLA football game with friends I know from church I see once or twice a year, or a Bible conference with people I have never met. Which one would you chose?

On a related note, if you live in Northern California, are looking for blue and gold spirited excitement on October 29th, and want an excuse for a road trip, I heard about a promotion (which I think is still going on) to get two free tickets to the Cal at UCLA game. Let me know and I will tell you more.

For the past 5 years I have been to the football game the Bears play in Los Angles every year and I do not plan on breaking my streak. I have also been to every one of the Bear's bowl games since the 2008 season. I will go to the game this year, but the Bears need 4 more wins to be bowl eligible. UCLA, Oregon State, and Washington State are the most winnable games, but they still have to win one against Oregon, USC, Utah, Andrew Luck's team, or ASU.

As a reminder, Thursday night is the first of two consecutive Thursday night games the Bears will be playing. The Bears will be playing at Oregon this week, and host USC next week.

Back to more craziness

I want to get back to blogging and there is a lot to say. Things for me have been switching between busy and way too busy.

This past weekend I was in Berkeley for an alumni event for the Cal Newman Alumni group I am working to get moving. The event worked out well with more people attending than I expected. There was enough wine and cheese left over for an afterparty at Lisa's house.

My classes at Long Beach have a lot of work due. Yesterday one lab report was due and today a second lab report and some problems are due. The good news is I am pleased with the people in my lab groups; they are helpful. I also managed to join a club where I am on a team that is building a robot.

The group I am involved with at church that puts on retreats is trying to come back to life. We have a meeting scheduled with the pastor, but one of the three main people just had his work schedule changed and cannot make our weekly meetings anymore.

It is college fair season, so I am volunteering my time as an alumni representative for Cal. I go to high schools and community colleges when they have college nights and answer the questions of students who are thinking about applying. While I like talking to prospective students, the food the schools provide for the representatives is even better.

My dad is in the hospital. The short version is he was bit by a spider, got an infection, got blood clots, the blood clots moved to his lungs, and now his kidneys are stressed dealing with the medications that are being used to treat these things.

My grandma is visiting. She arrived last week and will be here for a month. After she leaves, my other grandma will come to visit for around two months. Among all this busyness, this is a reminder of why I need to move out.

I am looking forward to this weekend. There is no major commitment of my time. I am not driving to the other side of the state like last weekend or spending a lot of time in L.A. for a convention like the weekend before. I will be driving to LAX twice, but that is it.

Class at The Beach with the Dirtbags

I am in the third week of taking two classes at Cal State Long Beach. I need to explain how I got here.

Several months ago I came to some conclusions. Very few companies have jobs where the ideal candidate has a bachelor's degree in physics. Most of the things I want to do are engineering related, but my education is not. While I can understand the basic things behind what is happening, I do not have the specific training they want.

This and my lack employment led me to decide I should get a master's degree in engineering. The next problem is deciding what type of engineering. There is mechanical, electrical, aerospace, and a lot of other specialties I do not know anything about. After some thinking, reading, and vacillating, I decided electrical engineering was the field for me.

The next step is to get into an electrical engineering graduate program. My undergraduate GPA is nothing great (imagine a number less than three). I looked at schools that were ABET accredited in electrical engineering and decided one of the Cal States would be a good choice. The GPA requirements are within my range and they are very cost competitive.

To have a better application, I decided I should take some engineering classes. I have completed some UCI Extension classes in engineering, but those are not at the level of actual classes for matriculated students. So I took a real UCI class over the summer in Control Systems. While I was taking this class, I decided CSU Long Beach would be the best choice for me. I looked at their website and found a list of classes they expect everyone to have completed before starting the graduate program. When compared to the classes I had taken, I came up with some deficiencies and some questions.

I emailed the graduate adviser and asked to met him. He replied back that I should make an appointment to see him at the end of September. This was very unhelpful, as I would have to enroll in classes for the fall well before then. So I picked the classes I knew I would have to take. I also had to make a schedule that did not conflict with my UCI class which was ending the same week the Long Beach classes were starting. Since I was taking classes through a special program for non-admitted students, I had to get a special form, get the signatures of my professors, and get the department chair to sign off on it.

At The Beach with the Dirtbags
Now a few comments about CSU Long Beach. I had never been on campus until an hour before my first class. It is often called "The Beach" from its city Long Beach and the school being close to the beach. The sports arena is a big pyramid. Their sports teams are the 49ers. However, their baseball team is called the Dirtbags. The entire story is told by the Unnamed Geniuses. I am disappointed all of the teams are not the Dirtbags, but I am adopting the name until they come to their senses.

I am taking two classes at Long Beach this semester. One is Communication Systems. It covers putting information in signals. The first day I went to class I felt like I was in a bad high school class. It was an odd feeling. The professor speaks with an accent, writes in small lettering on the board, and walks around the room pointing to people asking them to answer his question. Usually he has been talking for so long nearly everyone (including me) has forgotten the question. There is a lab component to the class which is doing things in MATLAB. On the positive side, I found two good people for my lab group. One is a transfer student from a community college and better at MATLAB than I am. The other person is in the electrical engineering masters program. This is the first semester both of them are at Long Beach.

The second class I am taking is Energy Conversion. It explains how electrical energy becomes mechanical energy through motors. The professor is lively and makes funny comments. I think the class will be fun. The labs also use MATLAB to solve problems and simulate things. There is one other good development. There is a girl in class I have a crush on. So far we have met up to work on a lab together and she took my advice about watching Breaking Bad. I will play this out the best I can.

I am also involving myself with the campus life. I went to the club fair and picked two groups to investigate. I feel like a transfer student; I know I only have a couple of years on campus and am going to make the most of every minute of it. I think I will enjoy being at The Beach. All I need to do now is get accepted.

Three classes, two campuses, one week

Last week was a crazy week.

As I have mentioned before, I was taking a summer class at UCI. Last week was the fifth and final week of that class. On Monday and Wednesday I had lecture and discussion that went from 8 to noon. On Tuesday and Thursday I had lab that was scheduled from 8-11. One of the people in my lab group was late on Tuesday because she was celebrating a religious holiday and completely missed Thursday because of a family emergency. To make things worse, our circuit board, motor, and (expletive) tachometer took a lot of coaxing to work correctly. Even the graduate students who supervised the lab could not make it work immediately. Things went so bad the entire class had to come in for a second lab day. I did not leave the lab until after noon both days. There was also the usual monster sized homework due on Wednesday. Completing that required me to stay up until 4 Wednesday morning before I woke up at 6 for class.

That was only half the fun. Last week was also the first week of two classes I am taking at Cal State Long Beach. The two schools have overlapping schedules because UCI is on the quarter system while Long Beach does semesters. I also had to get signatures and special forms to take classes there since I am not a matriculated student.

For Monday through Thursday of last week I drove from Huntington Beach to Irvine to Long Beach and then back home to Huntington Beach. Fortunately, all three of these destinations are close to the 405. On Thursday I left home before 8 in the morning and got back just after 9 at night. Since it was the first week the professor ended lab early. It is scheduled to run from 7-9:45.

The Weekend
This crazy week happened to have one of the more interesting weekends I have experienced in a while. On Saturday I watched the Bears beat Fresno State in the football season opener with the Orange County Cal Alumni Club. On Sunday I went to Ryan's house where I had a few drinks and decided it was better to spend the night there instead of driving home.

On Monday I went to Aden's to watch a Patton Oswalt comedy special. I am not familiar with Oswalt's comedy, but Aden and Nick orchestrated food based upon his sketches. They had Famous KFC bowls (also called mashed potato bowls) which Oswalt calls sadness bowls, cupcakes with french fries, chicken McNuggets, Cheetos, soda, beer, donuts, and ice cream topped with Lucky Charms. We never even opened my chips and cookies. It was awesome.

This Week
On Tuesday I went to UCI to met with someone to work on our lab report. However, she had been working on it until 7 that morning and could not make it to campus before I had to go to Long Beach for class.

Tuesday night I worked on an extra credit homework assignment and chatted over gmail with my missing lab partner. I gave her some great commentary to add to our report. Since the homework assignment was extra credit, I did not finish it and went to sleep at 2. Aside from the report and homework being due, Wednesday morning was also the final.

After the disaster of a final I went to Long Beach for class and to met with a lab group. I had to share with my group how I coded a Fourier series in MATLAB. All I could say was I could not finish it or know how to make it work. Then I made my way home before heading to a meeting at church where I essentially lead a mini-Bible study.

From Monday last week to Thursday of this week I made six round trips from home to UCI and then Long Beach. I drove over 400 miles.

Even with all this, I am happy to be involved with everything. Some things could have turned out better, but I am doing things and making something with my time.

A trip to Pinnacles

A few weeks ago I went to Pinnacles National Monument with Larry and Peter. It was fun; we hiked and car camped.


The idea for this trip started when Larry got back from Vietnam. On a Wednesday we went to the OC Fair with Peter. Larry said he wanted to go on a nature trip before he left for Arizona in a couple of weeks. After thinking of a few places, I mentioned some people I knew had been to Pinnacles National Monument which is near Salinas.

On Thursday of next week our trip started. We left around 9 at night. As always, I did the driving. It was around 3 in the morning when we pulled up to our campsite. Luckily we were the only ones in that area so we did not disturb anyone. It was good Peter and I had practiced pitching our big 4 person tent a few days earlier. Aside from being dark, it was 47 degrees out.

Around 7 in the morning we awoke. Larry cooked bacon and eggs on a stove, but the bacon did not work out well. It had a lot of fat but did not produce all the grease we wanted for cooking the eggs.

We started on the trail at 9. Both Larry and I were concerned about being out of shape. Larry did very little physical activity in Vietnam, while I was long out of my habit of bike riding or even walking. Looking the the maps, Larry had planned a dozen mile loop around the park. It would take us through both caves in the park and most of the noteworthy trails.

We started at the Bear Gulch day use area, which was a short drive from our campsite. We went 1.2 miles through the Moses Spring trail to end of the Bear Gulch Cave trail. The cave was not very exciting. It might have been better if it was not partially closed for bats.

We went for 1.9 miles on the Rim trail and High Peaks trail until we reached the start of the Juniper Canyon trail. We had to go uphill but from the top we could see the clouds settling over a valley in the distance.


After the entire 1.8 miles of the Juniper Canyon trail we reached the west entrance of the park, the Chaparral Parking Area. It was 90 degrees that day and we had hiked 4.9 miles, so we used the opportunity to fill up our water. Throughout the monument I saw a few California Condors flying around.

From there we followed the Balconies trail to the Balconies Cave trail. Peter was always leading the way.


After our trip to the Lava River Cave in Arizona, we were looking forward to the caves. We brought extra clothing, extra light sources, and even purchased headlamps. However, the caves were a big disappointment. They were more like very short narrow canyons where some big rocks had fallen in and blocked out some light from above. The picture below was taken in the best part of the caves. If it would have been like this a lot longer it would have been a real cave. I should have looked up what a talus cave was when I saw it on the website.


After eating in the cave, we took the Old Pinnacles trail for 2.3 miles. This was nice because it was flat. Then we had a choice; we could take the Bear Gulch Trail back for a flat 1.6 miles back to my car, or take the High Peaks trail to the Condor Gulch trail for 3.7 miles. Which one do you think we chose?


The High Peaks trail also went up 1,300 feet. I almost died going up this hill. I was huffing and puffing like the Big Bad Wolf. Peter and Larry were doing OK, but I had to stop and rest a lot. At one point I laid down on the trail. However, I was worried the vultures I had seen earlier would start circling around me. I kept telling myself "If I can handle the Grand Canyon, I can handle this." When we got to the top we had this view.


We took the Condor Gulch trail down and back to my car. The hiking totaled 11.7 miles with a lot of ups and downs.

When we got back to our campsite we sat in the shade and waited for the sun to go down. For dinner we cooked pasta with a lot of spam and Vienna sausage.


Since the fire warning was at its highest possible level, they did not allow campfires. Using the showers at the campsite took a lot of time. Only one of the showers was working and it worked on quarters, with a four minute waiting time between uses.



The Drive
From Peter's house we took the 22 to the 5. We exited the 5 at Coalinga, then took the 198 to the 25 to the 146. The 198 and 25 were a lot of fun to drive at night. These winding hilly roads had turns that had to be taken at 25 or 30 MPH. There were very few other cars. My biggest concern was all the wildlife. There were rabbits all over; I ran over two or three of them driving. The entire trip took 636.7 miles. As with my earlier experiences, driving to the national park or monument is a bunch of fun.

We got back around 5 on Saturday afternoon. We had something important scheduled to do on Sunday, we went to Disneyland. The interesting things we did included going on the new Star Tours, which was not as good as I had hopped (I yelled at Jar Jar Binks). We also did the Toy Story Mania! shooting ride in California Adventure. You sit in a car that is taken to different places where you shoot at targets on 3D screens. Also seen was the show The World of Color in California Adventure, which you should get a Fastpass for early in the day to get into a viewing area. Imagine the Bellagio fountain show with lights and a lot of projected Disney characters and you get the idea. A couple hundred pictures of the day were posted online.



Overall the Pinnacles trip was good, but the place itself was not as good as our other National Park adventures.

Midway through a crazy class

This is the start of the fourth week of my five week class at UC Irvine. It has been a crazy few weeks.

The only thing I can compare this to is the quantum mechanics class I took the summer before my junior year. During the summer both classes are taught at twice the speed of a normal fall or spring term class.

The good difference is this class makes a lot more sense. I am understanding what is going on and it is all very reasonable to me. Most importantly, I am liking it. Also the professor keeps things interesting and generates much mirth. I laugh out loud and smile a few times every lecture.

However, I do not know anyone in the class. Unlike quantum mechanics, my friend Yinbo is not here to save me from my ignorance on problem sets and hang out with me during breaks.

For better or worse, (better for them, worse for me) everyone else in the class is an undergraduate majoring in electrical engineering entering his or her senior (or super senior) year. Except for the online extension classes I have taken (where the instructors were of varying quality), I have never taken an electrical engineering class before, let alone a fast paced upper division one. To be fair, if it were not for the MATLAB skills I learned in extension I would be hopelessly frustrated trying to complete the computer exercises and the first lab. The professor is helpful when I ask him basic electrical questions everyone else already knows. He gave me a lecture about the wonders of an inverting operational amplifier in office hours.

This class is taking a lot of time. On Monday and Wednesday I have lecture from 8-10:50 and discussion from 11-11:50. On Tuesday and Thursday I have lab from 8-10:50. Since each week covers the material normally covered in two weeks, the problem sets are extra long. Last week from 6 AM Tuesday to noon on Thursday I got less than four hours of sleep. There was a problem set due, a lab report, MATLAB, and reading for the next lab somewhere between a lot of procrastinating.

As a tangential benefit I am learning my way around UCI. Considering the large number of people I know who went there, it is good to have an idea where things are on campus and the best places to eat. In high school I ate at the In-N-Out and Del Taco across the street often, but I rarely ventured onto campus.

Driving there
The way I drive to UCI starts out the same way I drove to other educational institutions. I start out driving down Warner, which is the way I drove to high school. Then when I get on the 405 south it is like I am driving to a summer class at OCC. Then I get on the 73, which is a toll road. Luckily, the first few exits are toll free. I get off at Bison Ave. right before the toll part starts. One turn off the off-ramp and moments later I am on campus where the road takes me straight to the best parking lot. The drive home is the reverse of this. Today it took me twenty minutes to drive the 12.5 miles from UCI to home.

Today was the midterm and Wednesday of next week is the final. Somewhere in between is two (maybe three) labs and two extra big problem sets.

It was a great weekend

For the past couple of months I have been helping to plan a retreat at church for this past weekend. It is a continuation of a previous retreat I helped at in May.

My job for the weekend was Spiritual Director. I had to pray for everyone. Since I am not a good outward prayer leader, I thought it would be a good experience for me. It was a big responsibility, and it also included being second in charge overall for the weekend. However, it was a team effort. Everyone on the team wrote a talk to give, picked out music, and planned out how things would happen. While I have given witness talks at retreats before, I worked on a new one for a new topic for this weekend.

People who have been on earlier weekends in this program have had very positive things to say about them. Many people have described the experience as life changing. The team was looking forward to continuing this trend.

All this preparation brings us to this past weekend. The retreat had to be canceled because only a couple of people signed up. It would have been a great weekend, but it never happened.

The program has been put on indefinite hold until we can get commitments from a set number of people. When that happens, the process will start up again and a new team will create a new retreat.

Brighter side
To leave you on a happier note, this past weekend had some good things for me. My friends (the Vietnamese Crew, or as Eric calls us "The Group") had a BBQ in the park. We all brought stuff and barbecued hamburgers, hot dogs, bacon, and carne asada. We then went to Eric's house and watched Aladdin.

Back in class

On Monday of last week I started taking a class at UCI. Unlike my earlier classes which were through extension, this is a real UCI class. Everyone else in the class is a full time UCI undergraduate majoring in electrical engineering. It is one of there summer session classes. It is five weeks long, so it fits a full ten week class into half the time. This includes six hours of lecture, two hours of discussion, and six hours of lab every week.

Since I am not a regular UCI student, there have been some problems getting everything set for the class. For example, I cannot log on to the UCI computer system from home. When I called the office up, I was told I should have received a number in the mail with my registration; I never received anything in the mail from them. Then I was told I would have to go to the office to get my ID number.

The next day I went to campus and visited the office, actually a window, and was able to get a copy of my registration with an ID number. I went over to the parking office and bought a parking pass. While I was there I saw one of the stupidest things I have seen in a long time. Someone illegally parked in the parking lot of the UCIPD and the Parking & Transportation Office. I saw the student arguing with a police officer as his car was being ticketed for being parked in a place that clearly was not a parking spot.

Class starts
The class is about control systems. So far it is going well. The instructor is a good lecturer and wants all of us to do well.

However, lab section contained another bureaucratic battle. The class requires the use of MATLAB, which is on the computers in the lab. On the first day of lab I was unable to log in to the computer system. To make a long story short, after talking to three different people (including the EECS chair), signing up for a UCI email address, visiting multiple buildings, and missing an hour of lab I was still unable to log in. I decided to wait until after the weekend in case the system needed time to update. When I was still unable to log in today, I made a phone call and talked to someone who finally enabled my access.

My first assignment is due on Wednesday and the first lab assignment will be revealed on Thursday.

Save-a-life Saturdays

Two Saturdays ago I finished classes for the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).

The CERT program is designed to teach neighbors to help their neighbors in case of a natural disaster or large scale emergency situation. When a massive earthquake occurs, first responders will be overwhelmed, utilities will be out, and everyone will be limited to the resources in their immediate area. CERT teaches people to organize and plan ahead for an immediate response such as locating people trapped in buildings, identifying and treating the injured, and communicating with the local authorities. It then extends to sheltering, feeding, and caring for people for a few days to a few weeks until outside help arrives.

These classes are important because Huntington Beach is disadvantaged by geography. We have a ridiculously high number of fault lines. Almost every entrance to the city is a bridge over a freeway or drainage channel. If the bridges collapse the city will be isolated. Even if they don't, the city is surrounded by hundreds of thousands of other people who would be in the same situation as us. The good news is the city is aware of this and has done a lot of planning and preparing.

There were four classes in the program I completed. In them I learned:

• How to triage a large group of injured people.
• To operate a fire extinguisher
• How to use levers to lift thousands of pounds.
• How to make an oven out of cardboard boxes and aluminum foil.
• Light search and rescue (they emphasize light).
• How to mark buildings as searched.
• Basic first aid including how to make a sling.
• How to transport people using blankets, chairs, and sticks.
• Proper storage of emergency supplies
• How to set up a shelter.
• How to check people for injuries.
• What to do with dead bodies.

They also distributed tsunami maps the city has prepared. It seems I live in a tsunami evacuation zone. My house is indicated below with a green dot. However, all I have to do is cross a street and then walk a few hundred feet to be in a safe zone.


I am planning on continuing with a few more training classes so I can become a fire department volunteer. This means when there is county level situation I can assist other cities. For example, when there is a big wildfire they will put out a call for volunteers who can provide logistical support for the firefighters and police. Volunteers will check people in, drive people around, and do things so the professionals can concentrate their trained manpower to fight fires and close roads.

The next step is for me to start a CERT team in my neighborhood. I should talk to my neighbors and ask them to join me in storing supplies, learning basic skills, and developing a plan for the next big earthquake.

I am not happy

I am not happy with the way my life is going.

There is what I do on a daily basis. I do not have a job and do not look like I am about to get one. This would be fine if I was in graduate school or working toward something, but I am not.

There are the people around me. While I have met some great people recently, they are not in my age group. I do not have a girlfriend and I am not making the kind of friends I want to.

Then there is my living situation. I live at home with my parents, which is not were I want to be. I should be living in my own apartment where I make decisions about how things are done.

I am not happy with these things. This is not how I want my life to look six months or a year from now.

This is not the life I want. I know I can do better.

Current vision, Television

One bad thing about summer is many television shows go on hiatus. The upside is many programs outside of the standard fall to spring schedule start their new seasons.

These are the shows I am/will be watching with new episodes airing this summer. I mention what the show is about, where the new season might go, and why I like it. In order of their season premiere,

Burn Notice
The setup: The opening of every episode explains the series well so I will quote the monologue:

My name is Michael Westen. I used to be a spy. Until...[Voice on phone:] "We’ve got a burn notice on you. You’re blacklisted." When you’re burned, you’ve got nothing. No cash, no credit, no job history. You’re stuck in whatever city they decide to dump you in. You do whatever work comes your way. You rely on anyone who’s still talking to you. A trigger-happy ex-girlfriend...An old friend who used to inform on you to the FBI...Family too...if you’re desperate. Bottom line? Until you figure out who burned you, you’re not going anywhere.

Michael tries to figure out who framed and betrayed him. Aside from that, he helps people who need help the police cannot provide. This could be anything from helping good people who got mixed up with loan sharks to rescuing girls who were kidnapped for sex trafficking.

This season: I do not know which way they are taking this season. I think Michael has killed every possible threat and taken all the revenge he can. The only thing left is to blow more things up and shoot more bad guys. The show is in its fifth season on USA.

Why I like it: Blowing things up, killing bad guys, coming up with plans to get the bad guys in trouble, and international conspiracies.

Warehouse 13
The setup: People who work for the government locate items with special powers and store these items (called artifacts) so they cannot be used for nefarious purposes. The artifacts are usually linked to a historical figure who used its power.

This season: After Myka left everyone and the Warehouse at the end of last season a replacement agent will have to be brought in. The third season started on Monday on Syfy.

Why I like it: It is fun. Crazy stuff happens, but there is a semi-scientific reason why. All of the artifacts have connections to history or fiction. Last season had a plot involving H.G. Wells.

Breaking Bad
The setup: Chemistry teacher Walter White is diagnosed with advanced cancer. Fearing for the finical future of his pregnant wife and son with cerebral palsy after his death, he starts to cook methamphetamine. Keeping this secret, dealing with his junkie business partner, and all of the occupational dangers of being in the illegal drug business (being shot at, dealing with criminals, laundering money, etc.) combine for dramatic effect.

This season: After the dramatic ending of last season, how will Walter and Jesse get out of the mess they are in? Will Walter's house of cards come crashing down? Will Jesse outlive his usefulness? I would say more, but I do not want to ruin the series for anyone. The fourth season will premiere on Sunday on AMC.

Why I like it: Everything has unintended consequences. The characters are very human and act in ways that make sense. When things are bad; they can find a way to get worse.

Of all these shows, Breaking Bad is the best. If you want to start watching it, I very strongly recommend you start at the beginning with season one. The episodes need to be watched in order and are worth seeing. The other two series will make enough sense if you start watching anytime.

Stapledon, Last Men, and the Star Maker

I just finished the novel Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon. This book was only available at one of the branches to the Huntington Beach Public Library, the Helen Murphy Branch. When I checked it out it had dust on it. The librarian said it had not been checked out for five years. The book was two novels put together so I will describe both of them.

Last and First Men
This is written like a history of humankind seen from the point of view of one of the Last Men. The book covers the future of mankind from when the book was published in 1930 until two billion years in the future.

The book has an epic scale and a lot of great ideas. The descriptions of epochs in the book telescope as they get further into the future. For the first few years, things are described in detail. As time moves on, the histories become more general as more time is covered.

The predictions of the near future might have been interesting when the book was first published in 1930, but as of today I think most people could skip the first three chapters. I considered putting the book down several times as it was such a slow start.

In this sense the book reminds me of Jack London's The Sea-Wolf. Both of them are great books, except for a 50+ page section that I wish I could summarize and erase. Last and First Men has the misfortune of this bad part being the beginning, while The Sea-Wof has it at the end.

If you make it through Last and First Men, you should check out another one of Stapledon's books. It is a follow up book of sorts.

Star Maker
The form of the book is similar to Last and First Men, except it covers the history of the galaxy and beyond. The narrator is an Englishman whose mind wanders the galaxy. He not only observes other worlds with their inhabitants, but also has the ability to enter into the minds of these alien people. As the narrator gradually learns how to control his travel and discovers more about other worlds, his abilities of vision and observation increase.

The descriptions of other worlds and their inhabitants is the best part of the book. Stapledon's creations are nothing like the anthropomorphic aliens common today. Throughout the book, all these different beings are trying to understand the force behind the universe. This substance, whether it be a god, organized intelligence, or something else is called the Star Maker.

Oalf Stapledon
In the development of science fiction, Stapledon is an important figure. He came up with a lot of ideas and influenced several writers. Arthur C. Clark was greatly influenced by him. C.S. Lewis was also influenced, but in the opposite way. Lewis strongly disagreed with Stapledon's ideas and directly countered them in his writing.

I recommend both books. However, if you do not have the patience the first three chapters of Last and First Men can be omitted.

Capitalism and Freedom

Yesterday I finished reading Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman. I liked it. As Friedman writes in the introduction,

[The book's] major theme is the role of competitive capitalism-the organization of the bulk of economic activity through private enterprise operating in a free market-as a system of economic freedom and a necessary condition for political freedom.

The book was published in 1962, but the ideas are still powerful and worth considering. His thinking shows why he is one of most influential economists of the last century. I will summarize his ideas in three areas.

Taxes
Friedman would restructure taxes so they are only applied to individuals. He would require companies to report their earnings to their shareholders who would then be required to report their share based on their ownership stake on their personal tax returns. This would stop the unequal taxing of income based on its source and tax it at its final destination, the individual receiver. Since the taxes are being reported by the individuals who own the companies, the corporate tax would be abolished. Next, he would remove all income tax deductions and loopholes. He would institute a flat tax, with the first several thousand in earnings tax exempt.

This system would have many advantages. The uniform tax rate would discourage moving income between securities to reduce the tax rate. The tax code would be understandable so many more people could file their own taxes without paying accountants or buying tax software every year. I think this would also go a long way toward making politics better. Industries would not lobby for changes in the tax code to benefit them because all taxes would be bundled with individuals rates and all deductions would be abolished.

Education
Friedman advocates that parents who wish to send their children to private schools be paid a sum equal to what would be spent on educating their children in a public school. This money could then be used at approved educational institutions. If the state has the goal of ensuring every child is educated, it should allow the money allocated for each child to follow that child. This would remove the requirement that private school parents pay twice for education, once through taxes for public schools and a second time for the education they actually receive. This would give parents of limited means a wider range of choices in schools for their children.

Licenses for occupations
Friedman writes about the negative effects of licensure in any occupation. Aside from limiting a person's choice of profession and the consumer's options, license boards can easily become an interest group that protects the interests of practitioners instead of people outside the profession. He specifically attacks the American Medical Association for their efforts to limit the number of doctors and consequently keep the costs of medical care high. This would benefit practicing doctors by keeping their wages high.

While I enjoyed reading the book, I liked Hayek's Road to Serfdom better.

Throughout the book Friedman raises some good questions. Even if you disagree with his conclusions, they are questions worth answering.

A Fruity Email

A while ago I received an email from a neighbor. The title was "Dr. OZ on eating fruit (must read)." Since my neighbor is into all that health stuff, I figured I should take a look at it. I will reproduce the email below in case anyone received a similar email and googles it. My own comments are included for both comic and practical purposes.

This is informative!

We all think eating fruit means just buying fruit, cutting it up and popping it into our mouths. It's not that easy. It's important to know how and when to eat fruit.

What's the correct way to eat fruit?

IT MEANS NOT EATING FRUIT AFTER A MEAL! FRUIT SHOULD BE EATEN ON AN EMPTY STOMACH.

Eating fruit like that plays a major role in detoxifying your system, supplying you with a great deal of energy for weight loss and other life activities.

Anytime someone says you need to detoxify, ask him to draw you a toxin. If they are such a danger doctors should be able to draw pictures of toxins and explain why they are bad.

FRUIT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FOOD.

Let's say you eat two slices of bread, then a slice of fruit. The slice of fruit is ready to go straight through the stomach into the intestines, but it's prevented from doing so.

In the meantime, the whole meal rots and ferments, and turns to acid. The minute the fruit comes into contact with the food in the stomach, and digestive juices, the entire mass of food begins to spoil.

Eat your fruit on an empty stomach, or before your meal! You've heard people complain: Every time I eat watermelon I burp, when I eat durian my stomach bloats, when I eat a banana I feel like running to the toilet, etc. This will not happen if you eat the fruit on an empty stomach. Fruit mixes with the putrefying other food and produces gas. Hence, you bloat!

There's no such thing as some fruits, like orange and lemon are acidic, because all fruit becomes alkaline in our body, according to Dr. Herbert Shelton who did research on this matter. If you have mastered the correct way of eating fruit, you have the Secret of Beauty, Longevity, Health, Energy, Happiness and normal weight.

Beauty, Longevity, Health, Energy, Happiness and normal weight- my lack of fruit is the source of all the problems in my life.

When you need to drink fruit juice drink only fresh fruit juice, NOT the concentrated juice from the cans. Don't drink juice that has been heated. Don't eat cooked fruit; you don't get the nutrients at all. You get only the taste. Cooking destroys all of the vitamins.

I agree that many juice based drinks are a lot unhealthier than they look. I prefer drinking a Classic Coca-Cola instead. As for "cooking destroying vitamins," this sounds like the raw foods movement. I learned about this when Cal had a raw foods night at the DC. I also learned raw foods do not taste good.

Eating a whole fruit is better than drinking the juice. If you should drink the juice, drink it mouthful by mouthful slowly, because you must let it mix with your saliva before swallowing it. You can go on a 3-day fruit-fast to cleanse your body. Eat fruit and drink fruit juice for just 3 days, and you will be surprised when your friends say how radiant you look!

I learned from infomercials that I can get all the benefits of eating fruits by drinking them if I use Jack Lalanne's Power Juicer.

KIWI: Tiny but mighty, and a good source of potassium, magnesium, vitamin E and fiber. Its vitamin C content is twice that of an orange!

AN APPLE a day keeps the doctor away? Although an apple has a low vitamin C content, it has antioxidants and flavonoids which enhances the activity of vitamin C, thereby helping to lower the risk of colon cancer, heart attack and stroke.

STRAWBERRY: Protective Fruit. Strawberries have the highest total antioxidant power among major fruits and protect the body from cancer-causing, blood vessel-clogging free radicals.

EATING 2 - 4 ORANGES a day may help keep colds away, lower cholesterol, prevent and dissolve kidney stones, and reduce the risk of colon cancer.

WATERMELON: Coolest thirst quencher. Composed of 92% water, it is also packed with a giant dose of glutathione, which helps boost our immune system. Also a key source of lycopene, the cancer-fighting oxidant. Also found in watermelon: Vitamin C and Potassium.

GUAVA & PAPAYA: Top awards for vitamin C. They are the clear winners for their high vitamin C content. Guava is also rich in fiber, which helps prevent constipation. Papaya is rich in carotene, good for your eyes.

This is nice, but I do not care about these trivial pieces of information. I am not going to say "My kiwi has twice the vitamin C of your orange!"

Then I got to a line that affected me.

Drinking Cold water after a meal = Cancer!

Oh my gosh! I drink cold water during and after meals all the time.

Can you believe this? For those who like to drink cold water, this applies to you. It's nice to have a cold drink after a meal, however, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you've just consumed, which slows digestion. Once this 'sludge' reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.

I must have a lot of cancer by now. I am going to die!

My Response
I did a little research and sent my neighbor this email:

Fruit is great food and everyone (including me) could always eat some more of it. However, some of the claims in this email are false. I researched online and found a few websites that talk about this email. It seems Dr. Oz did not say these things.

http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/fruit.asp

http://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/coldwater.asp

Do not believe everything you are sent in an email or read online. Even if it is from a retired professor who should know what she is talking about, do not believe any unreasonable claims until you have researched them. If you do send out an email to people and later discover it had false information, send another email to everyone telling them of your earlier mistake and informing them of the new things you have learned.

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.