I don't quite despise this blog, but I do wish it were waaaay more interesting than me ranting about my uninteresting life. But hey, at least Steve and Anthony read it, right?
Spring semester started exactly a month ago. I am taking three classes and two of them are labs, which if you're an engineering student, know that they are 3x the workload compared to a lecture-based class. I hate being constantly busy and tired, did I say tired? I mean exhausted, drained and I'm barely getting any research done. But I am also really enjoying the classes, I swear, I am learning tons! but sometimes learning is a rocky road... you know?
When I came back from my California trip my advisor was rather unhappy with our industry sponsor, now they got some beef over IP. I really respect my advisor and definitely agree with him, but it makes me a little uncomfortable because I also like our industry sponsors and I am still interested in the project... One of the engineers from the company is coming down next week (or maybe the one after) so we'll see what goes down...
On a brigther note, I passed my prelim exam!!! this is the PhD qualifying exam, over which I suffered enormous amounts of stress. I am sooooo glad it's over now. I am not 100% sure that I want to get a PhD, but it is nice to know that the door remains open :-D And I have to thank my friends who were so supportive every step of the way, always asking me how it was going, how I was feeling, always making me feel like I was smarter than I really am, you guys are awesome! I passed!
A couple more updates: My advisor got me an undergrad assistant! I was like "huh?". I'm not sure what to make of it, maybe he thinks (or should I say "knows"?) that I'm not getting enough research done, or maybe he just wants to speed it up a little, I don't know. The point is, this guy, we'll call him "Scott" seems nice and smart and all that, but he shows up like EVERY FRIGGIN DAY asking me what he should do. Every day is the same answer, but he just doesn't get it. I tell him "Oh, I'm working on this Bill Of Materials, when it gets approved and sent out you can start doing schematic and layout, but I'll let you know when that happens". Does he think I will forget to let him know??? Anyways, this went on for 2 weeks and finally the BOM got approved and he can probably get started on Monday. I am going to have to coach him a little bit, which is a completely new feeling for me, I have never thought of myself as anybody's boss, or mentor, or teacher for that matter... I fear for that poor boy. Did I mention he got me a Valentine's day card that he made with the laser-cutter in the department? It has two lions and a big red-heart in the middle. Actually is a pretty sweet-looking laser-cut card, I can't deny it.
