The Google Chronicles: Life of a Google Intern (Part 3) May 31, 2011
Posted by adastra271 in Aerospace Engineering, Computer Science, Google Chronicles, Personal, Professional / Academic.3 comments
Welp, I have officially finished up my first two weeks at Google! I wish I could have posted an entry a bit before now to somewhat break up the journey between my last post and now, but unfortunately these couple of weeks have just been incredibly busy — in a good way. Hopefully I’ll be be able to summarize all that has happened in a concise manner without sacrificing the details. You’ll most likely notice a jumpier writing style this time around, too, simply to help cut down on the amount of content, but I’m sure no one will contest to that. Additionally, seeing as there’s still just way too much to fit into one post, in regards to both reading and writing, I’ll be splitting this into a couple posts. So on to the first portion!
So I finished up final exams a few weeks back. I could tell it was slightly more difficult to focus than usual, knowing that my internship was just around the corner. I was also trying to learn Linux as well, since Google works almost entirely on Linux these days. But of course I didn’t want to waste an entire semester of hard work just to do poorly on the final exams (the majority of which constituted at least a quarter of my final grade), so I eventually gained enough motivation to sit down and just get it done. My first two finals were unfortunately scheduled for 7:45 in the morning on the first exam days back-to-back, which also happened to be what I considered my two most difficult exams. While that was annoying, it was admittedly nice to get them out of the way so that I could better focus on my remaining exams. (more…)
0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13,… April 25, 2011
Posted by adastra271 in Aerospace Engineering, Astronomy, Computer Science, Personal.1 comment so far
Today is the 8th number in the Fibonacci sequence. And in less than one hour, the next number shall be tacked on. In less than one hour, the Fibonacci count will reach 21… as will I.
As I sit here now in the Computer Science lounge attempting to get ahead on homework, this one thought does not stray from my mind. It’s like this every year; the last 24 hours leading up to my birthday always has me feeling uneasy. I’m not really sure why, though. Technically, I’m only one day older than I would have been 24 hours previously. And then again, isn’t time just something us humans came up with anyway? Every instant in time is just one more instant from the last. Yet here I am, once again, contemplating the thought of turning a new age. Last year at this time was particularly uneasy for me, making the transition from teenager to “adult”. It’s difficult to admit to yourself that you are leaving that stage in your life when you’ve been there for seven years. But it happened nonetheless, and here I am one year later. Most people look forward to the day when they turn 21, as if a new world awaits them. I, on the other hand, cannot say that I am as excited for these new privileges. As I mentioned in my last post, I do not plan on now incorporating the alcoholic beverage into my daily routine. (I am perfectly fine sticking to my can of Coke or Dr. Pepper.) But with the number 21 comes so much hype. It’s a milestone in a person’s life, and it’s hard to believe I’m about to cross it. (more…)
The Google Chronicles: Life of a Google Intern (Part 2) April 4, 2011
Posted by adastra271 in Google Chronicles, Personal, Professional / Academic.add a comment
It’s finally starting to sink in. Looking down at the date in the corner of my screen and seeing that it is already April keeps reminding me of how quickly the days are passing before summer arrives and I’m on my way to sunny California. And it being April also means one other big thing: I’ll soon be 21. I’m honestly not sure which is stranger to me. I don’t feel 21. I don’t even feel like I’m 20. Maybe 19. Being one of the youngest in my class has always had me connect better with the class or two under me. In fact, this year I probably spend the majority of my free time hanging out with the first years on my hall. And for those curious as to why I’m still living in a dorm on campus as a third year, I’m a mentor for the engineering living community. (Plus, living on campus is just convenient. I mean, I get to be right next to the best campus food in the nation, after all.) So turning 21 just seems absurd to me. I don’t see myself going out and drinking alcohol, either. The only time I’ll probably do that is just when I go back home after finals and let my father buy me a drink for the sake of a father buying his son his first drink. It certainly won’t be a beer, though.
But that is still twenty-two days away. The real reason I felt like posting was just as I had promised in my last post. The day following, I finally received the email from Google about the group they had set up for all the interns to join to assist in coordinating housing and roommates. This is exactly what I had been waiting for to get the ball rolling as far as actively finding a place to live and whatnot. The group also included a forum, and it was only a matter of time later that the introductions began. Since forum posts automatically get sent by email, my inbox began to explode within only a couple of hours. Interns from all over were making themselves known, excited to be joining the Mountain View team. Most simply listed their name, degree, school, major, and Google team. Admittedly, it began to become a little intimidating, seeing schools like MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, and other well-known prestigious computer science schools representing the majority of interns. Then there was me, Mr. Virginia Tech. Now I’m not saying that Virginia Tech is not worthy nor capable of holding its place among these reputable schools, but one does begin to worry that he might have gotten himself into too deep of water. I’m sure this is just silly, nonetheless, and that I will be meeting some of the coolest people upon arriving on the Google campus. And for this I cannot wait. (more…)
The Google Chronicles: Life of a Google Intern (Part 1) March 12, 2011
Posted by adastra271 in Aerospace Engineering, Astronomy, Computer Science, Google Chronicles, Personal, Professional / Academic.1 comment so far
Well, first thing’s first. I know that I have not kept this blog up to date very well (last post was over a year and a half ago!). Journals were never my forte, really. But today I’ve decided to renew this blog. While I do not want to bore the reader with an extensive update of everything that has happened since my last post, there are a certain number of things that deem themselves as somewhat significant in my opinion.
Firstly, starting in January of last year, I became an undergraduate teaching assistant for the computer science department. The CS department at Virginia Tech has a UTA program where undergraduate students can take on the responsibilities of helping students with their course work, including holding office hours, supervising programming labs, and grading homework. Taking my first CS course at VT as a freshman, I was fortunate to have an awesome UTA whom I have since looked up to as sort of a role model. He was kind, humble, and always happy to help. I knew then that I wanted to become a UTA, too. The following semester, I applied and, after waiting a month or so, received the email that I was being offered the position as the UTA for that same course, which is the first course that CS majors must take. Frankly, I was ecstatic; I knew that becoming a TA would be something that was perfect for me. I would go on to TA that course for two semesters, another intro course for non-CS majors during the summer, and have now become the TA for the next course in the sequence for CS majors, which puts emphasis on data structures (my particular interest).
During this time, I have come to realize how passionate I am for teaching. Others have told me many times that I would make a great professor, and I have given it serious consideration. In high school, I would tutor students in math and physics. Now, aside from helping with CS, I am helping others with all the different topics covered in engineering, particularly the engineering science courses — Statics, Dynamics, and Mechanics of Materials. While I have hours of my own work to get done, I always find myself wanting more to help everyone else with their own work. Perhaps this might come back to bite me, but I just can’t help it. But with all that said, there’s still one thing that hinders me from choosing to be a professor — the research. While I love learning and love theory, I just can’t see myself wanting to do research. Perhaps I have the wrong impression, though. At any rate, the plan is currently to go into industry and, maybe, just maybe, I’ll one day decide academia is more my thing. (more…)
First Round of Exams & Facebook Usernames June 13, 2009
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So this week has been somewhat of an interesting one, I suppose. I’d first like to start off with my congratulations to the Pittsburgh Penguins… Way to bring the Stanley Cup back to Pittsburgh! Okay, so I know I’m not exactly a fan of sports or anything, but I do still have pride in my hometown. Despite my apathetic attitude toward our sports teams, it’s nice to have the community come together, as well as give a little spike in the local economy. Next on the list: how my first round of midterm exams went. It took an entire week before my Statics professor even handed back our exams. Before he handed them back, though, he told us that the class average was a 62% (93/150) and that the highest score was an 87% (131/150). I was quite shocked by this, and at this point I began to get quite nervous. But upon receiving my exam, flipping over to the front page, and seeing my score, that nervousness quickly changed to a feeling of ecstasy. So guess who got the highest score in the class? Yep. But despite the class average being a 62%, the professor is still not curving the scores. I guess I shouldn’t expect a curve, but it seems to be standard practice to curve the average to a 70%. Still, the professor did say the final cutoffs for letter-grades would be determined at the end of the session to reflect the class grades, so I’m not too worried about not getting an A. And I’m certainly not worried about Differential Equations. I got another 100% on the quiz which puts my course grade at 100%. And Economics: Well, that’s an interesting one. I studied for about six hours for that exam and felt pretty confident when I took it. When I got my score back, though, I was a little disappointed, with Blackboard showing a score of 28/35, or an 80%. However, going into class the next day, my first assumptions were proved correct — the answer key was wrong. Admittedly, only two of the answers were wrong, but I was able to get a point back for a poorly worded question (two answers were technically correct) as well. So in the end, after two points back from fixing the answer key, a point for a poorly worded question, and a 7% curve, I ended up with a 98%. That might go down as the funniest grade change in my book. So after the first half of the summer session, I must say that I am quite pleased with how things are going.
On to my next topic of interest… the new Facebook usernames. So I have to say, I’m getting quite tired of everyone’s complaining about how Facebook is changing. Okay, so I know the whole “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” saying, but honestly I think people need to realize something: We’re living in a different age. And therein lies the beauty. Despite being ignorant when it comes to politics, I still think Obama got it right when he chose “change” as his platform. That’s exactly what this age is all about. Everyday, we are progressing exponentially, and in case you didn’t realize it, progress is change, and consequently, change is progress. (Even change that is negative provides a bit of progress one way or another.) So I commend Mark Zuckerberg for his desire to progress. And these usernames, I believe, are a good step forward. So what if MySpace uses usernames? This isn’t about MySpace. If Facebook constantly compares itself to MySpace in the pursuit of having it never be similar in any shape or form, then they’re automatically limiting their design space. (Yes, I’m using terms I learned in my engineering courses and applying them.) If usernames are a good addition, then usernames it is! (I admit that I spent the last minute before you could register a username watching the countdown, which you can see from this screenshot I took of the last second.) And in any case, these usernames are simply used so users can access profiles more easily. Other than that, there is no change to how we’ve been using Facebook for the past four or so years. So why is everyone compaining? As long as you don’t choose a username like “ImOnABoat”, you should have no issues with random people viewing your profile. (Which only prompts me to say, don’t choose a username that everyone is going to type in just to see who has that username!) So I hope I’ve made my point clear: This is the age of the internet, and with that comes rapid change and progression, and it’s not going to slow down for anyone, so we’ve got to keep up with it.
Well I think that will do for now. But I would like to leave you with a line I found from a “You know you’re an engineer if…” list, that being: “If you thought the real heroes of ‘Apollo 13′ were the mission controllers.” So true…
One Year Down… June 5, 2009
Posted by adastra271 in Personal, Professional / Academic.add a comment
So almost five months later, I return to my blog. Why such the delay in posting, you ask? Well, let’s just say that twenty-two credit hours can (and does) keep a student busy. This past semester was certainly a challenge, but truth be told, it brought a few of the greatest months of my life. My teachers during my senior year of high school would always throw out a comment here or there on how amazing college was and how much they missed it. I had no reason to suspect exaggeration, but still I wondered how much better college really could be. Turns out, I’ve been the happiest now than I’ve ever been. College really does change things and it’s amazing how much I’ve changed since I left my hometown. To go on and list these changes would be tedious, so I’ll just leave it at that. The one change I will mention, I suppose, is simply my getting closer to achieving my dream. Of all the things that have occurred in this past year, this statement alone is what really sums it up. I ended the semester with a 4.0 GPA (bringing my cumulative GPA to a 3.95), was offered an internship position at NASA Goddard for the summer, was elected vice-president of Virginia Tech’s Astronomy Club and Student Engineers’ Council Representative for Virginia Tech’s chapter of the AIAA, got a perfect score on each of my Physics exams giving me a semester grade of over a 100%, got a 99% in Multivariable Calculus, and still managed to find some of the greatest people in the world to call my friends. Even with the small details aside, I’d say my freshman year of college has given me an excellent start on my journey toward becoming an aerospace engineer.
So now that the spring semester is over, you’d probably expect to find me back home and relaxing from such an arduous year. A fine assumption this is, but alas not the case. I am actually back at Virginia Tech until July 6 for a summer session of classes. With two majors and two minors, it is not too difficult to understand why I’d be sacrificing some of my summer for academic advancement. People always ask me if I am trying to graduate early when I explain to them my overloads on credit hours and summer sessions. And every time I simply reply, “No, I’m trying to graduate on time.” Of course by “on time,” that will probably come out to be five years of undergraduate study. As strange as it might seem, I am actually somewhat uneasy about switching to the Class of ’13. The number 12 has always been my favorite/lucky number, so I have always been somewhat fond of the idea of graduating in that year. Those chances are slim now that I have elevated my aspirations. Regardless, this summer session serves as an escape from complete boredom at home. (Why do nothing at home when you can get further in your studies, right?) So instead of sitting in front of my computer all day at home, I am taking nine credits of courses, those being Differential Equations, Statics, and Macroeconomics. Which brings me to another point.
Until Next Time, Luna! January 14, 2009
Posted by adastra271 in Astronomy.add a comment
When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie… well, you probably just witnessed the Moon at its perigee. And it most certainly was amore, at least to people such as myself. For those unaware, the full Moon which occurred just this past weekend was and will be the largest moon of 2009. Because of the Moon’s elliptical orbit around the Earth, its angular size is dependent on how close the Moon is to our planet. A few days ago marked our Moon’s perigee, or closest approach. The Wolf Moon — the name given to January’s full moon by the Native Americans — was about 15 percent larger in area and brightness than a typical full Moon. Unfortunately, due to unfavorable weather conditions, I was unable to witness such a memorable event directly. I did, however, get the chance to see the waning Moon last night as I looked up at the night sky. Despite being a few days late, the Moon was still a spectacular sight to see. Not surprisingly, the Astronomy Picture of the Day featured a wonderful portrayal of this past full Moon which I felt compelled to share. I hope you enjoy!
Largest Full Moon of 2009
A Closed Window for Windows 7 January 12, 2009
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The time has finally arrived: Windows 7 Beta is available to the public! So like every other computer geek — er, I mean computer enthusiast — I got my excitement up, readied my computer, and downloaded the next release of Microsoft Windows. As every experienced computer user knows, though, being the first kid on the block with the shiny new toy usually leads to a frustrating time for the distraught soul, so I certainly wasn’t planning on upgrading my current version of Windows to a beta operating system, especially when my academic life is dependent on this machine. Instead, I figured I would install it on my external drive and dual boot between my current, stable version and this enticing, but risky release. I wasn’t too sure yet how I was going to implement Windows 7 in my life, but my initial thought was to run it as my default OS when I’m in my dorm room and have my external drive hooked up, have Windows XP as my OS at all other times, and sync my documents between the two. I simply wanted to experience the new Windows rather than make it my full-time OS, thus not falling into the trap of relying on beta software.
As it turns out, however, I found myself running into several obstacles and never did get Windows 7 installed. The first obstruction in my way dealt with a problem I had run into several days before. When my Java Virtual Machine was called by a website, an error message would pop up telling me that several virtual machines running in the same process caused an error. I Google’d the error message but the results were not too helpful. It seems this is a popular error with no concrete solution. So I uninstalled Java in the hopes of solving my problem with a fresh install. Unfortunately, when I went to install Java, another error message popped up and upon clicking OK the installer would terminate. So at that point I was without Java on my machine. When I went to download Windows 7, nothing would happen upon clicking “download now”. Further inspection on my part would lead to the realization that my absence of Java was the culprit. So now I was forced to solve my Java issue. To make a long story short, I booted up without loading start-up items or non-Windows system services. This seemed to solve the issue and Java successfully installed.
Welcome to the International Year of Astronomy! January 1, 2009
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That’s the first thing I wanted to say on my new weblog. Yeah, I know, the only people reading this right now are either my friends who I told to check out my blog ever so surreptitiously through instant messenger conversation or those who have accidentally stumbled across my little piece of the internet and are most likely wondering why they’re still here. Whatever the case, I’m glad you’re taking the time to read this rambling of mine. Since this is my first post, I’m very tempted to just go all-out and start writing about anything and everything that I have stumbled upon in the past few days. I will, however, refrain from doing so. I intentionally started this blog today, being the first day of the new year, so as to set up a boundary for myself, otherwise this post would be ten screens long and I highly doubt any of you would finish (or start for that matter). So with that in mind now, I want to welcome you to my blog and hope you will find reason to return.
Before I officially begin my post, however, I’d like to give credit where credit is due. Although I have been somewhat against weblogs (as I always saw it as a crude attempt at web design), I have found one blog in particular that has shifted my perspective. My new friend, David, has been posting his remarks, opinions, and insights on the world of technology through his blog, My Piece of the Inter(.)net, since October of 2007. Upon reading his blog, I became inspired by the capabilities a blog could hold. All this time I have come across so many discoveries, articles, software, etc. and just wanted to share it with those who shared the same interests and passions as I do. Now through this blog, I hope to do just that. So I invite you to share with me now my dream, my passion, and my life. Ad astra — to the stars!
