EggXpert

I have graduated college.  I encourage you to drink a highly alcoholic beverage in my honor.  If you can't, don't worry about it - I already knocked back several just in case.  Five long years it took me...  And no, it doesn't seem like it went by in a flash.  Come back to me in another five, and I might have changed my mind.  Right now, I'm glad to be out, and to be making money.

I'm back at Crane, in the same group I was with last summer.  They converted me to regular employee status just last week, and payday next week will reflect the salary increase.  I just signed the lease on an apartment of my own, and I should have it decked out with furniture shortly after the afore mentioned payday.

The last semester of school was a roller coaster ride.  It started off easy enough, but ramped up quickly.  Around March I started blowing off the homework in one of my electronics classes to make time for my other classes, mainly senior design and signal processing.  Come to find out, where homework is generally only worth 15% max in EE classes, this professor had decided to make it worth 30%.  Ouch.  Okay, I thought to myself, my first test score in there is good, I'll be fine.  Then I bomb the second test in that class.  Ouch again.  Hmm...  I should probably check my average...  59%, one point below passing.  Osnap.

I start looking into things, and it turns out that I need this class to graduate.  Further investigation reveals, however, that it's only the credits I need - instead of another gruelling electronics class, I could have taken nose picking 101.  Alright, I tell myself, you're in this boat and out at sea, it's time to bail water.  So, I buckle down, devote time to completing the homeworks, and though it forces me into almost three straight weeks of staying in the senior design lab until 2AM, I end up bringing my average to around a 65% before the final.  Not anything to be happy about, but it's passing, and this means that as long as I pass the final, I'll pass the class.

Just to be sure, I study four solid days for the final.  A week later the scores are posted...  I ended up tying for the top score on the final, and got a B+ in the class.  Not bad.

Everything else school-wise went noteably smoother.  Finished my project in senior design (video digitizer with real-time image storage capability), aced the signal processing final, and managed a B in wine appreciation (kind've regret taking that one - not nearly as fascinating as I'd hoped).

The thing I really miss from college is one of my buddies.  We lived together the last three years, and since he graduated along with me, it was time for him to go back home to (South) Korea.  I've gone from seeing and joking around with him daily to only chatting with him over Facebook every day or so.  Bummer.  The current plan is for us all to get together in a couple years in Australia...

So, now I'm really all grown up, and almost on my own.  As I said, I've got my own apartment, but there's nothing in it, so I'm still sleeping at Dad's place.  I've got a project that's solely mine at work, and though it's got me a bit stressed out at the moment, I know I can tackle it, and I'm glad to have it (let alone a job at all).  This is the point where I'd always imagined life would officially begin...  Bring it.

Well, it has been some time since last I bestowed these e-halls with some of my quip, not that any of you missed me.  I'm several months into my final year of college, and therein lies the reason for the afore-mentioned absence.  However, I reasoned that it was time to enlighten you all once again.  To begin with, I'll update you all on a few matters...

To begin with, you may (but probably don't) recall an earlier blog entry where I was looking for the "perfect" computer case.  Well, I've managed to locate it.  It's the ABS Diablo ADV (which I can only surmise stands for "advanced", as a previous version of the Diablo is in existence).  It has all the qualities I was looking for, and more.  The essentials are a front intake fan (250mm), a massive side intake (360mm), and two top exhaust fans (180mm each), all with built-in speed controls.  The bonuses are that the case includes an LED temperature readout, and all the fans feature nice blue LED's.  Conveniences and considerations are that the standard I/O ports and the temperature readout are all located on top of this behemoth, so they'll be easily accessible with the case placed on the floor.  Another addition is that it features chassis intrusion detection - I'm not sure whether to call this a benefit or not, since I've never owned a case that included it, and I'm not entirely sure of all the implications it entails.

Okay, on to other things...  As I'm headed for my electrical engineering degree, the majority of the classes I'm taking are in that field.  I'm smoking the tests in my nanotechnology class, even though the lectures usually tend to go over my head.  The exams in my microprocessor class are going less than as well, to say the least...  I'm keeping up on the labs, however (remember to set those interrupt flags immediately after the interrupt call, kids).  I have a "mini-project" coming up in there...  If anyone has an idea for something interesting but not too complicated to implement on a small microcontroller with ATD, timer, and serial communication capabilities, throw it my way.  And my analog IC design class is going well enough.  I'm completely blowing off my social psychology elective - I've attended around half the classes, and I fully intend on bombing (but still passing) the test in there in about an hour...

Let's look at politics, shall we?  I'll make it brief.  Obama is president elect.  Say what you will, I don't care.  I myself didn't vote (call me un-American if you must).  I wasn't a supporter of McCain, but I refused to vote for Obama in support of the Republican party.  I'm a moderate through and through, and the only thing that has riled me during the election proceedings is all the poser extremists, on both sides.  On the Republican front, there are those who would claim Obama is the anti-Christ.  Among the Democrats you'll find some willing to lick his feet, or at least many who think the country will immediately change for the better come January 20th.  I would like to present to you the Dave Ingalls theory of the US Presidency:  He who has been elected President will be initally loved by some and loathed by others.  He will make decisions at the beginning of his Presidency that will seem valiant and epic.  Some of those decisions will turn out to be for the good, some of them will turn out for the worse.  As time wears on, he will become subject to making decisions in order to simply "keep the peace" (I'll refrain from bringing up the economic stimulus package).  The country will survive, alot of people will blame things on the President, and life will go on.  Bam.

On to sports.  Purdue's football team is...  I'll be kind - laughable.  3 and 6 overall, 1 and 4 in the Big 10...  My only consolation is that IU is doing no better, and the Oaken Bucket (read:  The Big 10 Pillow Fight) may be within our grasp yet.  The Colts are having a rough season (I blame the ref's), but there's hope for them still.  A Super Bowl appearance is unlikely, but that victory over the Pats makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.  Eli and the Giants, however, are tearing things up once again...

That about covers things.  My Halloween decorations came down and the Christmas stuff went up promptly on the 1st.  I used to think that the red and green stayed in boxes until after turkey day, but since there's no Thanksgiving decorations that involve lights, I decided to throw that particular pretense to the unseasonably warm November wind.  Speaking of the season, I've recently become re-addicted to paintball, and you'll likely see some recounts of those experiences sometime in the future.  Till next time...

50 bonus points for the first person to identify the voltage conditions for a depletion mode NMOSFET to operate in the ohmic (also called linear or triode) region.

-Addendum-

I realize it's been an age or two since anything was posted in the Prize Box.  School has my puzzle-making on hold - but fear not, I will pick it back up eventually.

I used to keep a fairly regular blog over at MSN, which I'd forgotten about until I re-discovered it last night.  I just finished reading all the entries, and I'm left with the all too familiar want of "I wish I'd known then what I know now".  What follows is alot of reflection and updated perspective on things I had to say back then - I'll try and keep things appropriately contexed such that you'll know what I'm talking about without having to reference my previous blog.

To begin with, I started The Dingalls Lunch Hour at the beginning of what I refer to as my Junior year.  It was my third year, but because of a missed semester, the university actually classified me as a Sophomore still.  But what do they know?  Anyway, that was to be my second full year at Purdue, so I was still a little ripe as a student.  It was my first year living off campus, which was a life learning experience to say the least - if you want a crash course in learning to manage your money, move out of the dorms.  It was also the first year I had a job at college, and that probably taught me some monetary lessons as well.

The one biggest change I think I underwent was in regards to my (school) work ethic.  I became lazy.  My first two years at Purdue, I was on my homework almost before it had been assigned.  Come to think of it, there were times I was on things before they were assigned, a la referencing the syllabi.  It was no chore at all for me to crack open the books right when I got back to the dorm and tackle the homework before doing anything else.  I'm not sure if it was because the work got harder, or because I wasn't living on campus anymore, or what, but that trend slowly died over the course of my junior year.

Things were really bad around last Christmas - I would regularly put things off until sunday, and would face late monday and tuesday nights to get things completed on time.  I finally told myself that I wasn't going to deal with things like that anymore, and I got better at dividing my homework into chunks and dealing with it progressively.  I did begin to notice how the workloads had changed from my freshman/sophomore classes.  Instead of a lot of problems that took not so long, assignments now consisted of a few problems that could take an hour or more a piece.  That's probably what got me into the funk I was in, without me realizing it.

My grades haven't suffered, though.  I still haven't missed making the dean's list or getting semester honors, and the GPA is somewhere around 3.9.

I have to eat some of my words about one of my professors - Gerold Neudeck.  I had him for microelectronics the first semester of my junior year, and I pretty much hated him (it's a recurring theme in the Lunch Hour).  After taking the class, though, I realized he's actually not a bad guy - he really knew his stuff, he just sucked at conveying it, especially on paper (proofreading was not his thing).  Turns out he had some incurable form of cancer, and he died in April last year.

I talked alot about coming home.  The past year I didn't do so much of that, somewhat because of the crazy gas prices, and somewhat because I just didn't have the motivation.  One of the principle reasons I liked being home was to hang around a girl I had a massive crush on.  We never got together, and my affections have since moved to another.  ...And now she's the reason I like being home.  I'm not with her, either...  There's another blog post worth of stuff on this topic, so I won't bore you with it now.

I'm still driving the Jeep (Sheila).  We got dumped on again last winter (no closings, mind you, but the roads weren't friendly in the least), so having four wheel drive is still proving invaluable.  I just wish the gas mileage was better...  I still haven't done everything to the Jeep that I'd aspired to, but it is most definitely mine.  I put in some subs at the beginning of the summer, and now you can hear me coming from about a quarter mile away.  I still need to replace the door/window control panel on the driver's side - a new one is outrageously expensive, so it's a matter of me dragging my butt to a junk yard some weekend.

The computer I spoke of in the Lunch Hour is but a fond memory of mine.  I put together a new one last summer, and if you've read the previous posts to this, you know that I plan to do the same in a couple of months.

There was one post I made in my previous blog that sparked some thought for me.  I spoke of not feeling like I belonged at school, or anywhere for that matter.  It's a feeling that I don't think I really ever got past, I just ignore it.  It has a lot to do with my spiritual beliefs - forgive me for the sharp turn I'm about to take.

The semester of school that I missed (medical reasons - read some of the older stuff on the old blog if you really want to know), I was at church alot.  ALOT.  I felt like I fit in there, like I belonged there, and like I was supposed to be there.  My afore mentioned crush went to the same church (this is not the current crush), so that just furthered my sense of being in the right place.  That might not have been the best source of insight, but I did feel really close to God, and like my life was pretty much on track.

I returned to school in the fall, but then, come Christmas, was faced again with the situation that I might miss another semester of school.  The specifics were that one of my blood tests showed worrysome levels, and I was going to have to go through more treatments which would make school pretty much impossible.  Because of the timing of things, I had to decide whether or not to go back to school without any solid information as to if I would actually need the treatments or not.  I of course prayed about it, and was waiting for some sort of direction.

Coincidentally (?), this is also when I began realizing that I was interested in the girl I'm currently interested in.  I was a bit off on the timing, though, as I'm pretty sure she'd had a thing for me earlier, but I was still nuts over girl number one, and was too dumb to notice.  Like I said earlier, more details than are worth writing here and now.  So, faced with this decision of staying at home or going back to school, I'm thinking that being able to spend time with this girl wouldn't be so bad.

There were also financial implicaitons affecting my decision.  I would end up best, obviously, deciding to go back to school and ending up not needing to leave for the treatments.  However, I would end up worst deciding to go back and ending up having to withdrawl.  Staying home was the middle ground, but was going to be enough of a drop to be considerable if I ended up not going back and not needing the treatments after all.

The night before I had to make up my mind for sure whether I was going back to school or not, I thought for sure that God was giving me a sign.  I came home after hanging out with some friends, and opened the fridge for a snack.  Dad drinks skim milk, which is nasty, so whenever I'm home, he buys some 2% for me.  Inside the fridge was a fresh gallon of milk, which, for me, was going to be impossible to finish in half a day (if I was going to be leaving for school the next day).  So, I'm thinking, the only way I'm finishing that is if I stay home, so that's what I'm supposed to do.

The next day, my doctor calls, and says he wanted to give me his advice on what I should do (he knew my financial concerns as well, so he genuinely wanted to help out).  He said that I should go ahead back to school, and deal with things if they should need dealing with.  I decided to change my mind and take his advice, and I drove back up to school that afternoon.

It turned out that I didn't need the treatments, and the weird test levels were just that.  Ever since then, though, I haven't quite felt like I made the right decision.  I think alot of it has to do with the girl, who I'm still infatuated with, and who I still haven't actually dated.  I do feel distanced from chruch, though, at least compared to what I used to be.  And I definitely feel nowhere as close to God as I used to.

I'm not doing badly at school at all - I'm doing great by all standards.  I have an awesome job lined up for after I graduate (where I'm at now), and my future is pretty much destined for good things.  I just wish I felt like that's how it's supposed to be.  Anyway, there's your glimpse into my head.  Yes, it's dark, and there are alot of sharp corners and sudden drops.  I'll try and remember the flashlight next time.

So, looking back, aside from the whole "belonging" thing, I guess I'm pleased with how things have gone.  We lived in that apartment for two years, and we're moving into a (brand) new one this year.  We're all graduating this year, so it's pretty much my last taste of non-adult-ness.  Real world, here I come...  Where's the bathroom?

Since I started college four long years ago, it's been a kind of unofficial tradition of mine to purchase a new computer each year.  At the end of my sophomore year, that tradition was amended into me building the computer myself.  In a couple of months, I'll be building my fifth computer/third custom rig.

Now, before you mistake this entry for yet another "rate my rig" post, let me assure you that nowhere will you find the entire specs of the machine I'm putting together.  You will find one spec here, however - the case.

This blog entry is going to serve a couple of purposes.  1 - to see if anyone actually reads it.  2 - to see if someone can help me find a better case.  I have my selection narrowed down to two...  Selections...

Apevia X-Jupiter S Type

This is the case I'm most likely going with - as of now, at least.  I used an Apevia case (back when they were still Aspire) for my first build, so they're a brand I trust.

The big hook with this case is of course its 250mm side fan, which is quickly becoming a trend.  I'm going high-end SLI with this computer, and I'm not totally sold on water cooling, so lots of air movement is a must.  One thing that's irksome, though, is that this fan is a smidge higher than I would like it, and would only blow directly onto the top card of my setup.

Also, because of the size of the cards, the case has to be full-tower.  I don't have enough room on my desk for a full-tower case (there's a shelf thingy that runs above it), so an unfortunate consequence is that it'll be located on the floor under the desk - it's a big desk, though, so that's not a huge deal.  It does need to be taken into account as far as the configuration of the case goes, though.

This case also has mounting space for a top 120mm fan.  In the world of air cooling, a top exhaust fan is the absolute best thing you can have.

The "front" I/O ports (USB, audio) for this case are located on the top, as are the power/IDE lights.  Since it'll be on the floor, this is a big plus.

It has a couple of temperature sensors with a swanky blue-backlit LCD display, which is nothing decision impacting.  However, it also includes a copule of nice looking fan controllers, which, for the monstrosity on the side, is a must.  Yes, I know that the bigger fan can move more air at a slower speed (and therefore with less noise), but I still want to be able to set it myself.  I plan on using the other controller for the top fan, and letting the motherboard handle the other three (one in front, two in back).

XClio Windtunnel Advanced

This guy has two 250mm fans on the side, blowing directly onto the graphics cards.  Each fan is hooked up to a controller on the front side of the fan housing.

There's also a 200mm fan on the top of the case, which is great.  A controller is also included for that fan, but it's on a PCI slot bracket, which kind've annoys me.

XClio is a brand I'd never heard of until I started case shopping.  They apparently don't have the best rapport as far as documentation goes, either, but then again, it's a computer case...

The thing that really turns me off to this case is the location of the USB/audio ports.  They're located low on the right side of the case, just behind the front panel.  Now, let's think this through...  The left side of the case will be left away from any surfaces to let the fans suck in air, so which side of the case is likely to be butted up against a desk/cabinet?  Also, seeing as how the case will be on the floor, the ports' lower positioning is rather inconvenient.

In short, compared to the Apevia case, the side fan positioning is a big turn on, but the controller for the top fan and the location of the USB/audio ports is a turn off.

Alright, my challenge to the readers.  See if you can find me a case that has the best of both worlds.  Necessary parameters are that it be full-tower, that it have a large side fan, and that it have front fan controllers for all larger than normal (> 120mm) fans.  A top exhaust fan isn't absolutely necessary, but it's definitely a deciding factor.

Thanks!