last post..

Oh man I don't think I got to say real goodbyes to everyoen in our cluster... I was packing all morning because I was dumb and didnt pack the night before. So when I was finally done and got out, there was like no one left... =( Didnt really get to take any pictures either. Well it was the best with everyone!!! COSMOS came and went by so fast!!!!='( It feels like only a couple days ago when I was soo excited for COSMOS to come.. and I was counting down the days before COSMOS.. and now it is all over already. Thanks everyone for the great time ~

Cluster 1: (order of our count off numbers) aaron, adrian, alex, alvin, avneesh, candace, eric, eric, eric, erick, govil, harry, isaac, jeff, jennifer, jessica, matt, nayeon, nicholas, sidra, suzy

i will never forget you guys all! =)
see you in our reunion haha.

Thank you!

Just wanted to leave my last post with one big THANK YOU to all the Cluster 1 students! The staff put in a lot of work to make COSMOS happen, but you the students made it fun! I wish you all the best and do not hesitate to contact me (especially if you need any help or advice with your college search).

And as promised - a short message to decode. It is still in ASCII, but involves positioning your fingers differently on the keyboard to understand what the message means.

01111000 01101011 01111001 01100001 01110010 01110111 01100101 00100000 01100000 00100000 01100101 01101001 01111000 01101010 01100001 01111110

Farewell, Friends

As I sit here the last night of COSMOS (trying to pack my bags), I still remember the very first day. As the car drives into Pangea Parking Structure, all of us are a bit nervous and excited: we have no idea what to expect. Slowly, we take out each bag one by one, and head over to the check in desk. They ask us our name, give us lanyards, and our keys. Again, nervously we walk up the stairs and into our dorm rooms...

As we meet our roommates, we start to adjust and develop a "brotherhood." From the first day with the circles game, to Knotts, and to the Zoo, our bonds grow and grow. And then we have reached the end of the ride, or Today. It has been one ride which we can never forget and is filled with memories of laughters, tears, jokes, frustration, and of course, fun.

This experience has been wonderful, and I would consider it one of the best summers of my life. That one February day was probably one of my luckiest, because I learned about COSMOS and it led me here: an unforgettable adventure. This memorable adventure will stay with me forever, and I hope that our legacy will go on. I want to wish everyone good luck in the future, and look forward to meeting each and every one of you wherever, whenever.

I would like to express my greatest appreciation and gratitude to the entire COSMOS faculty for making this program so successful. The RAs made our stay here enjoyable and help us take a break from a work filled routine. Thank you so much, and I am sure all of the students feel the same way.

My professors, Dr. Rajesh Gupta and Dr. Choon Kim, Teacher Fellow Ms. Shirley Miranda, and Assistants Mr. Arash Arfaee and Ms. Bridget Benson, were all a tremendous help and thank you for your efforts, time, and being wonderful friends/mentors. We could not have done it without you.

In addition, I would like to congratulate all the groups, presentors, and award recipients for their marvelous work. In the end, as Dr. Tu mentioned, I am looking forward to returning home to my family and friends, but I will miss everyone here, and hope to stay in touch.

As our paths diverge, and we go different ways, I am certain that the memories and experience will help us along the way, and give us a smile on our face every so often. Along with learning amazing topics in science, math, technology, and engineering, we also now have a taste of college life and improved social skills. Everything combined, this was one heck of a ride, and if I were to rate it, it would clearly be two thumbs up!

All in all, I would just like to say one last good bye to everyone:

Farewell, Friends.

friday. aug. 1st

As I sit here in class, i'm beginning to realize that I will probably not see these people again. I know for a fact that I will miss them greatly. They are such a unique group of people [my cluster 1]. They have shown me soooo much and have always helped me when I needed their help.
Wow, I don't really want to leave anymore. I got so used to my daily schedule that it will be weird going home and doing nothing now. I'm going to miss all my friends, all the staff/faculty, the computer lab and the fourth floor. I'm going to miss everything about COSMOS. I really don't want this to end, but I know it has to sooner or later.
I just want to thank everyone for such a wonderful experience!
And hopefully all my friends keep in touch with me. I will miss you all.


Facebook me! =)

Last Day

So today is pretty much the last day of COSMOS and it's very bittersweet. It's good that I'm coming home to my family and friends, but I'm sad that I have to leave the great group of people I met here. I learned a lot from living with them and I think I'll enjoy the college life when I finally get there. For now, I just hope senior year goes smoothly and that I'll keep in touch with my COSMOS friends. Until next time.

FINAL WEEK!!! =(

It hasn't hit me yet that COSMOS is gonna be OVER.
In like ONE day now...!
COSMOS has been really great, I absolutely love every single person in our peppa-mint suite and I will miss everyone so so much.. Our cluster 1 too.. it was fun with everyone. Well I'll write all my reflections and goodbyes in another post.. I'm working on my backboard and my photoshop is being RETARDED again!! >=| So as I'm waiting for it to calm down I decided to write a blog. =) It was kinda fun when everyone was required to write a blog, since we could see what other clusters are doing too and what they feel about things here. OH MAN IT"S AUGUST!!!! time has serioualy gone way too fast..

well gotta finish the backboard now. adios.


omg.. almost forgot THANK YOU BRIDGET FOR ALL YOUR HELP WITH MY INDIVIDUAL!!! =D

Last week of COSMOS

Wow it's the last week of COSMOS. Actually, there is like 3 more days [counting Saturday].
It's so sad but exciting!
I finally get to see my parents and go home and everything wonderful that revolves around that.

But I am going to miss UCSD and COSMOS and everyone here!
It has been really great. All the activities have been fun and the Zoo and Knott's were amazing.
I really am grateful that I came and I was able to come.
Man, now I don't want to leave.
Well I guess I just have to make it last as much as I can for now.


I'm really excited for the dance tonight.

But I was wondering if the dj could change the music style once in awhile.
Maybe like merengue or something along that line. I have some good songs on my iPod =) [Just to let you know]
I would not mind sharing it.

hopefully you take this into consideration =)

like I said, I can't wait for tonight!

Final Week

If you look through the blog starting at the beginning and going to the end, the feelings and changes in feelings of the people in cluster 1 wash over you and are quite amazing.


Anyways, mid of 2nd week, fun w/ Rubik's cubes and other stuff still, and hoping that COSMOS would keep on going, while also feeling slightly homesick. Programming all the way!!!

To sum up, "it is like a school finals week", but still fun.

The Final Week

I last posted this weekend. Since then, it has been a very busy few days.

Monday morning I began my day with a run around the forested trails by RIMAC. We spent the day in the lab, where I finished up the final pieces of my discovery project (Embedded Building Sensors) and continued work on the final project. For the final project, I am making a dual octave piano keyboard with Erick R. After a long day in the lab, I headed back to ERC. That night, I didn't do any particular activity, I mostly went between the activites and chilled with some other COSMOS people.

Tuesday morning I was lazy and I did not wake up in time for running. I should have ran though, for it would be a long day working in the lab in front of a computer. We had our final discovery lecture that morning. It was very interesting, a former aerospace engineer and now a UCSD professor spoke about space, specifically satellite delivery systems, along with the future of the technologies. Following the lecture, we finished up our trifold posters for the individual discovery project. That afternoon, we spent some more time in the lab and made a few breakthroughs...which were definitely needed as our program is nearing its end. Last night, I played in the COSMOS basketball tournament. Unfortunately, my team was no comparison to the opponents, and we lost pretty badly in the first round. Regardless, it was fun to play and watch and intense game play going on.

Today, Wednesday, I forced myself to wake up and go running. We ran around the UCSD campus towards the southern end. This morning we got some more work done on the piano keyboard and we obtained some of the components that would be necessary for the project.
JR

Beginnings and Endings

Well, I just finished the powerpoint for our final group project, which is nice. Then I realized that I hadn't posted here for while, so here I am.
Breaking Dawn is coming out this Friday night, and I can't wait. One of the RAs might take us down to the book store to get copies, and I hope that the plan works out as I really want my copy =)
Apparently there was an earthquake yesterday, as both my sister and best friend called/texted me within minutes of each other to ask if I felt it. I didn't, although some people in my class said they did. I was actually in the elevator at the time, so I thought the shaking was just part of the ride. Then I got off and everyone said there was an earthquake. Go figure. I don't know if that means the elevator in EBU1 is really safe, or usually shakes so much that I didn't notice anything different.
We're all going home on Saturday. I can't wait to see my dog again and sleep in my own bed, but I'll miss lots of people from here.

Last Week

Our individual and final projects are due this week. I have to admit that they have me sweating. Aaron and I are close to finishing our group project - a light dimmer - but we still need to work on our presentation, powerpoint, and poster!!! On top of that, I have to finish my individual poster tonight and present it tonight. So much for sleep. I just hope that I do at least an adequate if not awesome job.

On a lighter note, I had a lot of fun playing in the basketball tournament last night. We played a lot of games and I got a really good sweat in before lights out, although some would say I got a little too much sweat.

I'm looking forward to seeing how everyone else's projects turn out and also just to being finished and not having to worry about mine anymore. See you later.

Final Day to Work on Our Final Project

Wow. It's that day. The day where the final project is due... We have so little left to do with our board, except it is taking forever. I am working on our group tri-fold board, while my group members put the finishing touches on the programming and the PowerPoint presentation that we will present to the class.

I am kinda stressed out, but I always get stressed out at times like this. I guess it's because I want to try my hardest to make the best project that I could make and I am hitting road bumps. Ironically, some of them are the same road bumps I hit at school, unfortunately, at school it is less competitive to have the best presentation.

Well at least I learned a lot during COSMOS, I am going to continue to work on my project and continue to try my best and realize that even if I don't get first or second place, I still completed the rigorous COSMOS course, and that is something that is an achievement in itself for me.

final projects eeeek..

Well okay, at least the group proj is done and working correctly (although super simple). Got that somewhat out of the way. Now for the individual.... Almost done with the board at least but I gotta finish my code so I can be completely done with it. Tomorrow Bridget is coming back, and I think Choon as well so more help would be available. =)

And I am SO sad that it is the last week!!!! =S It's like we finally all got pretty comfortable here and BOOM it is now gonna be over =(... I will miss our cluster. Besides the fact that it was 6 girls and 15 guys haha. So I should go back to working on my board..

oh, gotcha is over due to poor "sportmenship" I dont know what that is about but whatever.
thanks avneesh for not killing me HAHAAHAHA.

I want to dedicate this post to our TA Arash. For the first two weeks, our cluster was relatively lax in terms of work. During that time, we had 2 wonderful TAs, Bridget and Arash, and Mr. Kim helping out people understand the material and the complex concepts that were thrust upon us in so short a time. However, Bridget left for vacation on the 3rd week and Choon was incapacitated due to medical reasons, leaving Arash with the responsibility of 21 students. He is only one person but he has done a lot for us,doing whatever he can to help us with our projects: soldering together home-made CapSense, debugging hundreds of lines of code, and getting us the materials we need.

This post doesn't do him justice, but right now time is tight. However, I just want to let him and others know that I appreciate his efforts and I'm sure the feeling is shared with all of cluster 1.

Good Day

Today was a Good Day (minus the Earthquake, of course).

Well, it was good for many reasons. But mainly because almost all of our problems were fixed! Many groups were very excited and happy today, opposite to that of yesterday. In addition, I also finished my individual project backboard, and our group project is looking in good shape. Got a Lot Done + Learned a Lot + Had Fun = Good Day
That equation sums it up.

On the other hand, there was a pretty major earthquake this morning near Los Angeles. We could feel it all the way here! However, everything is okay, and went according to procedure. I hope that everyone's family and homes are safe and sound.

It's nice to blog again after a break. I got to go now, so I'll "talk" to you guys later. Bye!

It all boils down to I2C...

Right now we have lab time in the morning, which is great because we have a final project due Wednesday. Unfortunately, all of the support staff aren't here and we are left to figure stuff out by ourselves. I guess you could call it creative problem solving. I need

I have my individual backboard done in Photoshop but I can't print it because it is 36 x 48 and we don't have access to a plotter printer. I miss the resources available at my school, but this is nice because I am able to see how to resize my work in Photoshop. I visited Imprints which is like the Kinkos of UCSD. They said that they charge $.40 per 8.5 x 11 page, but it is cheap to do plotter prints in Black and White. So I brought my .JPEG to Imprints to try to get it to work but it didn't work (the staff didn't know why). So I am currently trying to get my electronic backboard working so I can print on the plotter printer.

One of my friends from school is at DMA and I'm excited to see him this week. With all the work load, it feels like Exhibition Week at my school, where we devote like 5 hours a day to project work and set up for our big annual (and smaller semester ones) exhibition.

I2C is hard, but if we put our minds to it, we should be able to get it to work!

JULY 28, 2008. MONDAY =P

Mondays. Man they are so frustrating. It's hard to wake up in the morning.

So it's also frustrating how my clock doesn't want to cooperate with me. I just have to keep trying again.
Last night was exciting. Our question for Suite Feud was the roommate one. Dang, I was so nervous!
But us girls did good!
Yep. Tonight should be fun I hope.
Until then..

Its almost lights out so I'll make it quick.

The Gotchya game is getting intense. Although I'm already dead, I am making it my duty to see that the victor will be someone from our cluster. That won't be easy though because most of the people who are still alive are the scary ones. Like the ones that would jump out of dark corners and tall bushes.

Papers, projects, assassins, oh my.
COSMOS 2008

Only one more week. Pity..where did this month go?

F.U.N!

The Talent Show was fun! Even though there were a selected few who thought otherwise.
I really enjoyed everything =)
The zoo was fun! I saw alot of animals, except the giraffes and elephants, which was a downer =(
Other than that, I was in good company and I enjoyed myself more than I thought I would.

The beach was also surprisingly fun. I did nothing really but I still enjoyed it. It was fun!
Everything about this weekend has been fun!
Wow. FUN FUN FUN =D

The Final Weekend

This has been a pretty chill weekend. Friday night was the COSMOS talent show. Unfortunately, not many people signed up for the show, but there were enough entertainers for a cool evening. My floor of the dorm all sang "Hey There Delilah" together at the talent show. All 22 of us had synced hand movements and matching clothes.

Saturday morning I did laundry and got some summer reading done. That afternoon, we all went to the San Diego Zoo in Balboa Park. We all expected it to be rather boring, as it would be nearly 7 hours in the confines of the zoo. However, we all found it quite fun. I roamed every corner of the zoo, seeing all of the animals, including the highlights. The pandas were pretty cool and so was the polar bear...but after the long lines, I would say they were overrated. Near the end, we took the Skyfari aerial tram, seeing the entire expanse of the zoo lighted up at night. By the end, it proved to be a fun day.

This morning I slept in a little then played some poker. After lunch, we all went down to the La Jolla Shores beach. The water was nice, but it was rather cold for the summer and the waves were mediocre. Following the beach, we had a outdoor barbeque on the ERC lawn. I expected that there would not be anything for me to eat, but they had veggie burgers and quite a few options for me. Later tonight we will play suite feud, modeled after the TV game show "Family Feud."

JR

Final Project Work

So this is the weekend before the final week of COSMOS. I'm stoked to be working on my final project with my group, the traffic intersection. Yesterday I finished the software and hardware for independent boards, however; my next goal is to get them to talk to each other over I2C. It might be a challenge but I am ready to see what this week has in store for me.

Arash has been really helpful during this time. He has been a great help this past week. Shirley has also done a lot for us and helped us stay on task and taught us an intro to Statistics so we could finish our final project.

We are leaving for the San Diego Zoo in an hour. It should be fun.

Dedication is spelled: A-r-a-s-h

Today was a great day. There were a lot of times where I just wanted to go home but its OK i can make it through. Today Arash was everywhere and pretty much helped everybody. I think Arash is under appreciated sometimes. He works really hard and he helps us all with OUR projects. I just really want to Thank Arash for all the help he has given us and for all that he puts out because he really is a Hero to me. He represents my future because he studies in the fields I want to be in and all the things he teaches me gives me a taste of what I love.

Thanks Arash. You inspire me. =]

Laptop battery died. bleh...

I have my work cut out for me this weekend. I think that applies for everyone else as well.

Debugging is a pain, especially when you have no idea is the error is a software or the hardware issue. I think I may have tweaked a pin on my circuit board and now it does funny stuff randomly...probably have to borrow someone's board to run tests.

psstt...my group mates don't do anything...

bleh

Working on The Fang.

hóigh from Ireland

Hi Cluster1

I'm having a great time here in Ireland. Like everybody says, Ireland is very green and full of cows. It is also full of old castles and ruins and great lake and ocean views. I will be leaving the countryside tomorrow to head to the big city - Dublin!

I hope you all had a great third week! It sounds like you had fun at Vaio and are making some good progress on your final projects and reports. I absolutely loved the encoded binary messages on the forum. I'll encode some message on my next post. : )

See you all on Wednesday! Have a great weekend!

Bridget

Nearing the end of the third week

Hello all. I have not blogged in nearly a week as things have been rather hectic. This past weekend I planned on staying on campus, but due to a very unexpected family tragedy, I felt obligated to return home for the weekend.

I came back to COSMOS late on Sunday night. Monday morning I decided to sleep in and forgo my usual morning run. We began the day with a lecture by our TA and professor, then we had afternoon lab time. That night, I played dodge ball, which was fun but rather difficult when playing with over 50 people.

On Tuesday I intended to go running...but my alarm did not go off. We heard a discovery lecture in the morning by a so called scientist...he seemed to have very little original research and instead tried to convince us all that selfish Americans are the cause of global warming. After the unsavory lecture, we had our Science Comm class. That afternoon we had more lab time to work on our final projects. Unfortunately I had to leave COSMOS Tuesday night for the same reason as this past weekend.

I returned Thursday afternoon... and I am here to stay until the end of the program. Unfortunately, I missed my cluster's field trip to the Sony Vaio manufacturing facility in nearby Rancho Bernardo. After dinner and study time, I decided to embark on a haunted campus tour.
While UCSD has been in existence for under 50 years, it still has its share of bizarre and sometimes scary tales. While I am sworn to secrecy, I can divulge that there is definitely a dark side to the usually bright and cheerful campus.

Today, Friday, I finally got back into running. I woke up early to run with a few guys around the UCSD campus. Later this morning, we heard from the San Diego iBotics team, a group of engineering students who will soon compete in a contest to test an autonomous underwater vehicle. After the demo and some statistics review with Shirley, we had lab time to work on our final projects. In a week the final projects will be finished along with the presentations...pretty hard to believe.

Now that I am somewhat back to normal, I want to thank all of the COSMOS staff along with my friends and floormates for their support and help during this difficult period for my family. Pat-thank you so much for driving me to and from the train station four times and dropping everything so that I could make the train on time and not have to worry about transportation. Thank you again to everyone!

JR

End of third week

Everything is going well towards this end of the third week, we have lots of homework (mostly from Shirley) now but that's OK, Harry is now whistling Star Wars and other stuff almost all the time, and I2C has been figured out. We had a presentation from some friends of Arash who have made a "Stingray" submarine and showed some of the details to us. It ran Linux!!!! Linux all the way!!!! The dive-in movie yesterday was fun, and I expect the talent show today will be just as fun too.

Still not TOO irritated about the food,

Nicholas

For bridget in ireland

00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110001

- Nicholas

P.P.S. Same site as Harry did, except do the decoding twice.

Bridget, this is for you =)

So everything is going ok at COSMOS. I can't believe that next week is our last week here. So many things have happened and I have really got to know a lot of people. I am really going to miss COSMOS, it is/was a really fun experience!


So my group project on Adrian is to try and make a clock work with the Cypress board. I should be working on it, but like I said, This is for you Bridget =). Hopefully I can get the C-code working using the techniques that Bridget taught me before she left. [I hope Ireland is fun!]
So good luck to me and everyone in all the Clusters. I can't wait to hear about all the projects!
Until then!!....



Hi Bridget, next time it will be longer.. but I have to get to working ...

For Bridget in Ireland

01001000 01100101 01111001 00100000 01000010 01110010 01101001 01100100 01100111 01100101 01110100 00100001 00001101 00001010 00001101 00001010 01001000 01101111 01110111 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01110100 01110010 01101001 01110000 00100000 01100111 01101111 01101001 01101110 01100111 00111111 00100000 01001000 01101111 01110000 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100111 01110010 01100101 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110110 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100110 01110101 01101110 00100001 00001101 00001010 00001101 00001010 01010011 01100101 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01101110 01100101 01111000 01110100 00100000 01010111 01100101 01100100 01101110 01100101 01110011 01100100 01100001 01111001 00101110 00001101 00001010 00001101 00001010 00101101 00100000 01001000 01100001 01110010 01110010 01111001 00100000 01001100 01100101 01110110 01101001 01101110 01100101




PS:

http://www.paulschou.com/tools/xlate/

Nearing the end of 3rd week..

Now that blogs aren't mandatory, I haven't been blogging.. so I think I will today. Well today was the field trip to Sony. The "tour" I guess was about an hour long around the VAIO laptops. The workers were assembling the software of the laptops right in front of us, I think everyone thought the same thing: I want to take it hahaha.

And then after the tour was MAFIA. we were waiting for the bus to come in front of the sony building (which had a really pretty fountain thing) and so couple of us decidd to play mafia. I had the luck to be mafia 3 times in a row. Oh, we continued playing in bus too and I killed myself just to make people feel guilty that they were accusing me of mafia haha. (Oh, I was mafia then haah) Yeah the mafia was crazy fun I dont think the people in the cluster will ever trust me again haha, just like my suite thanks to mafia hahaha. Ok so now I gotta go kill my gotcha person... =) I will write more later ~

Oh.. final project :(

Sony Vaio Field Trip

Good Times

________________________________________

The field trip to Sony Vaio Manufacturing Plant was very fun and informative. We had a great time, and even played some Mafia. The picture is of us standing in front of the entrance.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Let us leave it with unexplained laughter.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Workload has increased exponentially and deadlines are looming. It almost feels like finals week..during the summer.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There seems to be a hiatus of posting by Cluster 1. I think that is primarily my fault. But I encourage keep up our post lead lest another cluster creates a "post gap". Just for fun.

Because ITS BETTER ON TOP!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I just love COSMOS. =)

Projects!
Too many of them.
But it's ok, I'll survive =)

Midpoint

HAPPY 22nd BIRTHDAY, MALOU!

COSMOS is halfway done! This weekend was cool. We went to the mall (not that I bought anything) and saw Batman: The Dark Knight which was pretty good. Malou's birthday was yesterday in real-time, today by actual date (she was born in the Philippines = big time difference). I just finished Lab #6, so I have two weeks for the group and individual projects. This last one was easier than I expected, so that was a nice surprise. I expected it to take at least six hours when it actually took less than two. Time to see if the idea for our group project is even possible.

july 20th

It's been really chill here at COSMOS with parent weekend and all, but I personally like it. There are certain people that I hoped would have stayed, but that doesn't matter now. It's been great just doing things on aslow place.

No class, No homework to worry about, etc.

I am really enjoying this, but I know tomorrow the headaches will come again [because I've been getting those alot lately]
but that doesn't matter, because I'm trying to be optimistic and say that in the end this will all be worth much more.


Hmmm, the mall was fun. So was the new BATMAN movie. I enjoyed it.
Thanks COSMOS staff. Especially Pat for buying the tickets. =) [ It's really nice when the staff calls you buy your name, I enjoy that]

Hmm oh anad HAPPY BIRTHDAY MALOU!! =D
I hope its going great!


That's about it for today...

Ending of the second week

The second week is just ending/has ended depending on your definition. The food has gotten a bit old, but everything is still going well. The dance wasn't that great, and like movie night we weren't allowed to leave for a while. However, some people did bring cards and Rubik's Cubes(R), so it ended up being fun enough. The boys 100 suite did a sleep in the lounge night for the heck of it, and I actually may have slept better than in the dorm bed... The Rubik's cube tutorial also went over well; it was very fun being there and teaching others (I was one of the main 3 cube-teachers). We also had a fun tour of the campus and I have heard rumors that our boundaries may be increased.

Its been one tiring week.

But its a good tired.

JULY 18TH

Shirley's dress yesterday was pretty =]
I wanted to compliment her on it.

it was full of Mickey =]

Today I am so ready to dance. [maybe]

cluster 1 has been better.
I am enjoying it more.

COSMOS is great!
I am glad I started talking to more people here. It's been awesome!

and Jeffry has the same birthday as me!!! JUNE THE 7TH yeah!

Hey Hey Hey

So this week has been really good. I haven't had too many downers. I finished a lot of labs this week - I made a USB device and a motion sensor - and it was pretty fun. I also made a game like deal or no deal except instead of 22 cases, its 3 doors. Yeah, so after all of that, I feel like I accomplished a lot. I still have to write my essay and build my thermostat and my light dimmer. It's ok though, because I'll be able to use them in my room haha. So we've been playing a lot basketball lately, which is really good exercise especially since I've been eating ten times more than I used to at home. We played full court yesterday... I thought that would be a good idea, but not so much. Actually it was still fun, but not serious at all so I didn't get a lot out of it. Basketball tournament is coming up soon though. I'm on the team with the rest of the Erics. That's it for now. Gotta get ready for the big DANCE! not that I know how to though. I was only the inspiration for ABDC. Later.

A Fever You Cant Sweat Out

The Rubick's Cube fever is what many people here at COSMOS seem to have. I've been able to avoid it mostly but it's catching. Last night we had a Rubick's Cube tutorial night which was pretty cool. I still have no idea on how to really get all the sides to the right color but its still pretty fun to just move around all the sides and stuff. Mostly that room was a chill place so I had fun. Also Henna seemed to be a big hit, I only got a star on my arm, but others got more elaborate things, which were ok. Body arts not really my thing but some of the people you got it are real artist. That's about it, these past few days have been cool for me not too many complaints.
TTYL

Half point already?

Unfortunately, the lab I was frustrated with on Wednesday never got completed...oh well. Wednesday night I played poker as one of the res life activities. Unfortunately, I played too aggressively during the tourney qualifier, losing quickly. However, during the play games that followed, I did quite well, brushing up on my Texas Hold 'Em skills.

Thursday morning, I did not go running, due to factors beyond my control. Instead, I ran about a mile around the ERC green, ran some stairs and did some ab work. Thursday morning, we had our Science Comm class with our teacher fellow, Shirley. We got a crash course in statistics, which was quite useful as I will be taking AP Stats next year. After lunch, however, we had a variation from the commonplace lab time. We filed into a lecture hall for several interesting speakers. First, a UCSD undergrad admissions officer spoke about the university and the reasons why one should attend. All of UCSD's accomplishments are quite impressive as the university is not yet even 50 years old. After the admissions officer spoke, a woman from the career services office at UCSD explained more about post baccalaureate career paths. She invited 3 special guests, a Biology grad student currently working at the Scripps Institute, and 2 fourth year UCSD School of Medicine students. As I aspire to attend medical school and become a surgeon, I learned a lot from the two med students. Following the speakers, we all received a 1 hour campus tour from the RAs. We saw most of the main sites, including the recently opened Price student center. After dinner last night I finished up a research paper. Then, for the res life activity time, I played inner tube water polo. I had never previously played water polo, but nevertheless it was very fun and refreshing.

This morning I ran with a few others around some of the dirt trails near the edge of the UCSD campus. We spent our morning in the lab, listening to a lecture about C programming. We then saw an example of embedded systems, a face detecting and musical camera. After a nice lunch, we worked on a CapSense, which is a touch sensitive strip on our PSoC device boards. There are several activities planned for tonight, then it is finally the weekend!

JR

Off to Ireland

Wow! I can't believe that two weeks have gone by already. I have really enjoyed working with the COSMOS students and staff and am sad to say that I'll miss week 3 and part of week 4 of this awesome program as I am going on a family vacation to Ireland. Please continue to post to the blog so I can read up on the happenings of COSMOS while I am away (if I find cheap access to the internet). I have really enjoyed reading the blog as I participated in a summer program like COSMOS when I was 12 and can relate to many of your comments. I also enjoy reading all your comments about food, laundry, and dorm life because I see you are getting a taste of what college life can be like. Yes, food can get repetitive, laundry can be a chore, you may not be the best of friends with your roommate and you may have to spend most of your time doing hard homework instead of having fun, but in the end you're realize it was nice to have food provided for you, you'll appreciate who ever did your laundry for you before that much more, you'll find life long friends (even if they are not your roommate), and all that work you did will allow you to get a challenging, well paying job that you will hopefully enjoy. See you all during Week 4 and don't forget to email Arash and me your Final Lab Project Proposals.

<"}}}}>< (It's a fish!)

Bridget

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=57598025363

Cluster 1 has a Facebook.

It would be cool if any of cluster 1 professors/TA/RAs/admins join. They would be given admin privileges for the purpose of sending cluster related updates.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My previous post apparently set off quite a reaction. I was actually surprised that it generated so much attention, but I guess that is just an indication that our admins do indeed read through our blogs and take our thoughts into consideration. There were some slight misunderstandings on both sides which created an unintended blacklash side effect, but everything worked out a-okay. The ground rules with the blogs were cleared up and everyone is happy. I believe it was a good move that benefits both the admins and students. Personally, I perform better when I'm not compelled: whether it be doing work, practicing an instrument, or doing chores. It's probably an adolescent thing. But I really appreciated how our gripes were taken seriously by the administration and immediate action was taken.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Research paper is due tomorrow. eeepp!

CONTINUED...

So, I didn't finish my lab 4 like a few other people did, I don't know why, it just would not work with me.
But on the bright side, I had dinner with some people in my cluster and that was a good experience. It gave me more interaction time with them. And I really enjoyed that.
And on the brighter side, I can't wait to learn how to SALSA!!!! and make salsa as well [maybe].

I'll see you guys out there if you go.

That's it for today.

[I still have no idea how to start my research paper]

hopefully I have better luck later on tonight.
I'm in for some serious thinking, yo.

Night.

if (!!!!!!!!Wednesday) {

printf("It is wednesday!");

}

Output:

It is wednesday!

-------------------

Today was pretty cool. I configured a servo motor to work with the breadboard on one of the chip kits. Also, we went to our TAs' lab to solder the connections on the motors. It was very cool to see what a real engineering department lab is like. It makes me look forward to college! :)

Until we meet again, blog…

Fantabulous

Fantastic + Fabulous = COSMOS

Well, recently there has been a lot of criticism about COSMOS. However, it is not as bad as it sounds. Although there are a few adjustments to be made here and there, over all it is a FANTABULOUS program, and I would like to thank everyone who has made it possible.

We often tend to forget how much all of our RAs (Mike, Malou, James), professors (Dr. Gupta, Dr.Kim), assistants (Arash, Bridget), teacher fellows (Shirley), and everyone else involved do for us. I know that it can't be easy work: keeping 150 high school students busy. We should look at the positive side and appreciate their efforts and time so our summer can be worthwhile. Once again, thanks to everyone.

There has been a lot of controversy about movie night. However, I thought it was a great event, as I certainly needed a break from studying. Although an old movie, it was a classic and I could hear the whole hall having a good laugh. I am looking forward to enjoying at Poker Night this evening as well.

So, what have we been doing? Well, we are working on the USB or Universal Serial Bus Protocol. You'll be amazed what this common device can do! It's tough to program, but when it works, it's truly remarkable. I'm done with all the labs up to Lab 4, and only have 5 and 6 to go!

Today, my USB Flash Drive got corrupted and crashed (ironic?). But I think today is a lucky day, as I just found a backup on my laptop with all the important files. Also, on a side note, I am almost done with my 5 page report on self-driving cars. I am excited to work with my group on my final project and looking forward to my discovery project.

So in conclusion, I would like to thank the COSMOS staff from the bottom of my heart. I think you've been doing a great job, and I really appreciate it. I hope that you do not take this as a "suck-up" blog, but rather as a compliment, because I really do mean it. I cherish this wonderful expereince, and am sure this is a once (or twice for others) in a lifetime thing.

Thank You!

43454 E534F 52534 84750

This morning we were scolded by the RAs because apparently some people had been writing horrible, mean comments about how much COSMOS sucks. When I opened up the blog a few minutes ago after finally finishing the impossible project 4 (and helping a couple other people fix their errors too), I was expecting to find posts full of horrible, mean comments about how much COSMOS sucks. Instead I found posts filled with constructive criticism, positive comments, and a few complaints which may or may not be considered unreasonable.

In my opinion, the staff of COSMOS needs to stop taking such offense at the blog posts, especially since on the first day, when we were "suggested" to write posts twice a week, we were informed that the staff has "thick skins" (direct quote) and can take constructive criticism. We were told that the blog was for constructive criticism and now we are told not to write any since it makes COSMOS look bad. However, perhaps COSMOS should worry less about looking good for our parents and worry more about letting students express their thoughts and feelings honestly. The staff should realize that even though we complain about having to have RAs escort us everywhere, we are just whiny teenagers, we realize that the RAs are just doing their job and it is necessary because of liabilities, and we don't mean any offense to anyone at all.

I would also like to say that I, along with most of the other students at COSMOS, appreciate all the hard work that the RAs put in to provide activities for us every night, but they need to accept that not everyone will always like what goes on on a particular day. This does not mean we take the RAs for granted or hate the program, and honestly, we should be allowed to post our actual thoughts on our blog, instead of a version that skims over anything negative because we might get lectured again.

So now, for the first time on this blog, I will say what I think about COSMOS instead of writing about random unrelated events in my day. In my opinion, the science communications class takes up too much of our instruction time, especially since it does not relate to our cluster. I know that it is probably still important to learn, but I wish we spent less time on it and more time doing hands-on work in the lab or learning more advanced C. I really like all the teachers for our cluster, and I have found Bridget and Arash particularly helpful on more than one occasion. I personally think that the amount of homework and essays that are assigned are excessive, especially since this is a summer program and the essays don't always actually have very much to do with our cluster. The homework should reinforce what we learned in class since the lectures are often difficult instead of trying to introduce new topics. I also the reslife program, although I think that the nightly activities should not be mandatory every day since we have a lot of time to socialize during the day and sometimes we would rather stay in our rooms and relax or have a little extra time for homework. I also really like all four of my RAs (and no I am not just writing this because I just found out that at least some of them read this blog). Well, class is drawing to a close so I must stop writing now.

P.S. Thanks, Mike, for inspiring the entire cluster to write an extra blog post today.

I love COSMOS

COSMOS is amazing. I particularly love the Residential Life program. I love my RAs. I have nothing bad to say.

2nd week

Already Wednesday of the second week..! I guess now that we are getting used to the schedules and all time goes faster. Well the cluster instructions are going good.. the labs are still awesome. The Lab 4 USB which we started yesterday had some problems for everyone, but I think it is going good for everyone now. Tomorrow we start the cap sense lab and I'm quite excited for that. Ooh I still haven't picked my topic for the individual project and the paper about it is due Friday.... I will definitely pick something today. devote all study time to it. I guess I should have thought of something yesterday, but a suite mate wanted to put make up on me and my roommate hahah.

Oh yes we watched 'Anchorman' for the recreation time yesterday at Solis Hall. The movie was so random but funny. I love Steve Carell he makes me laugh so much.

Well I can't think of anything to write anymore so I'll update as more things happen.

The Joys of the Second Week

I would rather not get into some of the conflicts mentioned in previous blog posts by other clustermates. While COSMOS is not perfect, I have found most of the classes and res life activities to be very enjoyable and successful.

I last posted Monday afternoon. Monday night we all played glow in the dark capture the flag. Wearing glow bracelets, we ran around the dark fields and had a great time trying to capture the glowing flag without being tagged.

I started off Tuesday with a run that appeared to circle the UCSD campus. We had a discovery lecture that morning from Dr. Larry Goldstein, a premier stem cell researcher. He made the case for expanded research of embryonic stem cells and explained how they will be used in the future. In our morning Science Comm class, we learned more about data analysis, culminating in an activity with M&M candies. I enjoyed that part. After lunch we worked on our lab 4 project. Calling it difficult would be an understatement, but I am sure we will all rise to the challenge. Following the end of classes/lab, we had a special presentation from the president of "Science Buddies." Science Buddies is an online resource for science fairs and presentations. We were shown many videos and pictures about the leading US Science Fairs, such as the Intel Talent Search and Siemens fair. Ronit, a UCSD COSMOS alum and two time winner of the Intel International Science Fair spoke to us about her ideas and encouraged us to consider participating. That night, after study time, all 150 of us piled into a lecture hall to watch a movie, Anchorman. It was a very funny movie, which provided a nice break from C programming.

Today I began my day with another run. We intended on heading to the cliffs overhanging the coast, but the access was cut off. Instead, we ended up running through the massive UCSD campus again. This morning, we had a few lectures. This afternoon, I am still trying to complete lab 4. It is frustrating, but I know it will work out.

Stay posted!

JR

Wednesday

This week has gone by hella fast... yea I actually told Aaron that I was gonna say that first but he stole it from me.

ANYWAYS.... I finally finished my USB program that I've been writing this whole week. Thanks to Bridget and Choon for being patient and helping me. And props to Susanna for letting me borrow her circuit board since I broke mine :-\. Just kidding Suzy, and also thanks for letting me borrow your iPod. I'm excited about starting the wireless projects and our final projects too... I just hope they won't be too hard.

On another good note... I ate an amazing sandwich at lunch today. It was french dip and I ate some fries too. I wanted to eat some ice cream, but I was too full. I hope we have those sandwiches again, though *hint hint* *hint hint*.





*hint hint*



I also found some great friends/singing partners today - aaron and susanna again. yea we're thinking about winning the talent show, so watch out because it's "you...and me... movin at the speed of light into the top prize at the talent show". yea susanna thinks were gonna be the next destiny's child.

Okay.

So I still have 2 pages left to write on my research essay about thermostats. I just thought I would throw that out there. See you later COSMOS.

You had me at "Hello World!"

So this is probably a little late to be saying this since we started programming in C last week, but it's going well, there are some interesting parts to C that aren't in Java and unique coding linked to programming the circuit boards. Still stuck on trying to come up with a feasible final project idea thats interesting, but I think that will become easier after the capsense lab (maybe). And Mom, if you're reading this, please send me a C programming book if you can find one. Thanks~

P.S.: In regards to yet another bizarre title, I'm not that in love with C, haha.

Wednesday

These few days went by hella fast.

A Special Thanks

In light of some of the recent posts, I find it necessary to recognize some of the amazing efforts of the faculty and staff to provide a wonderful COSMOS experience so far. Mike and Malou, along with all of the other RA's have provided some very exciting and enjoyable rec. time activities. We all appreciate their hard work and know that our experience here at COSMOS would not be nearly as great without them. Our teacher fellow Shirley has done a terrific job with the "Scientific Communications" course, helping us hone our skills in science-based writing and presentations. In addition, she is a big help during lectures and especially in the lab when we run into problems. Some of the work we are doing is very complex and confusing and she is often able to help us understand the parts that we don't pick up from the other lecturers. Our TA's of course, Bridget and Arash are absolutely amazing. They are always so kind and willing to help, and always know how to help out. With 21 students in the cluster, I am amazed at how much one-on-one time they are able to spend with each student, helping them to conquer the concepts that give them trouble. Dr. Choon has made labs very enjoyable, giving us directions every step of the way and making the instructions as simple as possible. Professor Rajesh Gupta has given us some very essential background information on embedded computer systems that has made the transition to the lab portion of our day much easier. The staff at Cafe Ventanas is included, as their hospitality has been stellar. I would like to thank everyone involved in putting on the COSMOS program for their hard work, because so far I have had a pleasurable experience in adapting to the college lifestyle.


On another note, I would have to agree with some of the other bloggers about mandatory blogging and rec. activities. Although I have enjoyed many of the activities that have been offered so far, I can understand that some of the other students would like either alternative choices, or just the opportunity for some extra time to do research for their Discovery and final group projects. I myself feel that in the upcoming weeks, I will seek the opportunity for this extra time, as I want to make sure that I produce the absolute best projects possible.


I would also like to comment on the food recently. I am not able to post updates on the food each day, as that is both time consuming and somewhat overkill, but I think it is necessary to comment on it every few days. The enchiladas that were served a few days ago provided a much needed change, as I was getting tired of seeing the same food over and over again. They were actually pretty tasty enchiladas too! However, since that meal, it has been downhill. From somewhat hard pasta, to uber-liquidy mustard dispensers, and the ongoing lack of variety, I am really looking forward to family visitation weekend, as well as the opportunity to go to the Price Center for lunch ( hopefully starting next week =D ).


Well, that's all for now!

Universal Serial Bus

I finally finished the USB Lab. It was tough, but with the help of my fellow students, Dr. Choon, Bridget, and Arash, I was able to finish successfully. We are doing so much cool stuff in our Cluster. I feel like I am learning a lot with the help of my stellar peers and teachers.

The ResLife program is good. I really enjoy it. Lunch was awesome today. Mike my RA is still awesome too.

July 16th 2008

Another day at COSMOS.
This day has been great actually! I understood todays morning lectures and I understood a few things that had to do with C programming. I am very proud of myself. I was even able to ALMOST do a simple C code by myself. But of course I needed help from Isaac, but that was fine with me.

I think I'm starting to see the upside of this whole computer programming experience =).

1984

First off, to the people in my cluster who thought my shower post (last week) was really angry sounding, sorry, it was a hyperbole since I knew everyone had had that problem. The shower problem doesn't happen on the fourth floor anymore as long as we time our showers right: by waiting for all the bottom floors (gr first floor for never having the water problem!) to take their showers and starting at 10:30 instead =).

To Katie and Amanda who probably won't ever read this but will hear it from me at the floor meeting today anyway: thanks for the new floor mats in the bathroom that are successfully preventing unwanted slip and slide! OK, that was perhaps a little overly peppy o-o...

The French toast yesterday was doubleplusgood d(o.o)b.

(and all of the above was no joke, even if the allusions were)

Wow

Today's been ok i guess. The people at Cosmos seem to have a problem with children and free speech or whatever,so i'll keep my post as simple as possible. I'm having problem's with my computer, it doesn't seem to like me at the moment. Yesterday we watched Anchorman , which i thought was pretty cool. I love Will Ferrel movies, so it was an enjoyable experience for me at least. I still hate the way the program is so structured and there's really no time to chill and do what I want, like look around the campus or go and look at things off campus. I'm tired of being treated like a little kid honestly. I came for the college experience and I didn't expect that to just mean the small dorm rooms and hard homework. I guess that's how things work out though. I'm outie. 1 more post for the week.
P.s =p blogging

Response to "Response to 'A Blog'" and "A Blog"

"Maybe I just don't enjoy the crude humor as much as other people but I found it painful to sit in that room for the whole 1 hour and 48 minutes. And there was no alternates either. We were not allowed to leave to sit outside in the hall with the exception of the one kid who was smart enough to have brought his laptop over."
-Alvin S.

"To the Cosmos staff: can we skip events or activities when homework or personal interests in, for example, researching for a final project, are more important?"
-Isaac G.

I suppose my main problem is that I find many things besides homework to be more worth time than a movie that has a rather immature type of humor. I get it, some people like stupid-funny. I wish I could enjoy that kind of humor, for then I would have more in common with people my age who have seen the movies that I skip over. I talked to the one person who brought a laptop, and he enjoys this type of movie just as much as I do. I, however, did not bring a laptop to movie night. I brought the less obtrusive ipod-book combination. Then, about halfway through the movie, they turned the last of the lights off. From my position in the last row, I did not disturb anyone as I went out to the hallway. Nor had I been disturbing anyone by reading before the lights were turned fully off. However, I knew I would disturb the movie-watchers if I used my ipod as a book light. Light was provided in the hallway, as was supervision. Unfortunately, I was told that only those who brought laptops were allowed to sit in the hallway. So, what to do? I did not want to sit through a movie that would bore me to tears. I did not want to kick up a fuss, either. Eventually, I decided to go back into the temporary theater and watch a different movie on my low-lit ipod. I apologize for any rule that this action broke, as I was later told that nothing should have been done in the theater but large-screen-movie-watching.

I understand that it is difficult to plan multiple activities, and I thank the RAs for all their hard work in providing us with options. I just, simply, do not understand what happened last night. Why could a laptop user sit in the supervised hallway, but not a fiction reader? I feel like I am missing something, and this feeling is truly bothering me. I try to understand the thoughts behind actions as often as I can, and this was, and still is, puzzling to me.

I know that others have recently spoken of the restrictions on us. Although they bother me also, Malou, the RA for my suite as well as for our cluster, explained to me that some people have done wrong things that make the restrictions this tight, and that they will be loosened on all well-behaved students soon. It was nice to get a solid answer, and I know I am not the only person who appreciated this. Thanks, Malou!

Then, there was Mike’s speech this morning. I don’t know if it was a universal RA response, or if Mike was talking to our cluster in particular. Either way, most of us agree that we did/do not mean any offense towards RAs or anyone else when discussing COSMOS events on this blog, from food to movie night. We merely hope to express our feelings in the hopes of future improvement, whether for us specifically or COSMOS students to come.

PS - French toast rocks. Lots of love to the Cafe!

Response to "A Blog" and Some Other Comments

" . . . many people, names withheld, are definitely not ready for more privileges."

I have to say, I agree with most of this blog post, however, the food is good. And I liked Anchorman, despite how bad the movie is. (I liked the stupidity of it, maybe I have been too intellectual recently, so I needed a break.)

Additionally, many people, names withheld, are definitely not ready for more privileges. As I type this comment certain individuals are making crude comments, even racists jokes resonating throughout my floor. I know most of it is all in fun, but the maturity level seems to be a notch lower than I hoped for. The arguments I have heard have been pretty stupid, top put it nicely.

The distribution of freedom is at first glance inexplicable, but the reasons are painfully all liability. If we are freely allowed to roam the campus, and somebody gets lost/hurt/killed . . . what will happen to Cosmos?

I certainly may sound like a party-pooper or maybe lamass (pardon the language), but just think about it? Can a summer camp let minors run wild? Can anyone who reads this honestly say "every person attending Cosmos is responsible" ?

However, the mandatory movie night was not something I wanted to attend, (despite me enjoying the movie).

To the Cosmos staff: can we skip events or activities when homework or personal interests in, for example, researching for a final project, are more important?

In conclusion, liabilities are a bother, but must nonetheless, when faced with a barrage of maturities.

A Blog

"Everyone elses' blog makes everything seem a lot more fun than it actually is, but in general, COSMOS is a great experience and I have had fun so far."-Aaron Lee

I commend Aaron for his observation, because I find that as the days wear on, the initial enthusiasm for COSMOS is slowly wearing thin. Theoretically, this "blog" is a board for constructive criticism so I guess I should offer some.

Mandatory Blog: "You guys are all encouraged to blog twice a week." Those who fail to comply will be rebuked. I understand the need for any respective program to receive constructive criticism from its constituents, but I object to it being implemented under a facade of free will. I feel a blog is a page where one can speak his or her mind when they have something to say. It could be encountering something unusual that day, a clever thought that has been dwelling, or a some other event that doesn't occur daily.
Instead, it seems like we have been instructed to keep a diary. Our weekly assignment: keep a diary with biweekly entries and by the way, it can be publicly accessed unrestricted. Perhaps there is not really much difference between a blog and diary but I personally envision a generic diary entry as:
"Dear Diary: Today I had ____ for breakfast. It was ____. Later, I engaged in some activity in which 20 other people have already "blogged" about prior to me."

But I digress, I am not arguing about the differences between a blog and a diary. I am more concerned with the fact of having mandatory, unanonymous, censored feedback.
Either make it an assignment to send feedback every few days....or make a suggestion box(or inbox) which is on a completely voluntary basis.


Enough on that topic.

So whats new at COSMOS?

The food is getting repetitive. The first week, it seemed like a kid's dream come true. "ALL YOU CAN EAT FOOD FOR A WHOLE MONTH! NONE MOM'S COOKING FOR FOUR WEEKS! YEAH!!!1!" But like the kid in a candy shop, you will start getting sick of all that food after a while. I can't believe I am saying this but: I can't wait for visitation weekend to have some of my mom's homemade cooking. =)

The former restrictions are loosening up to some extent. RAs are not required to walk us down to our classes anymore, although I feel as though they left the training wheels on for a bit too long. We are all high school students; for the most part, we are all mature enough to have been accepted to COSMOS and to take care of ourselves once we have been shown the way. Sure, it is imperative to establish a strong foundation: showing the ropes around campus for the first few days, but after that, we should be allowed more liberty if we personally feel we are able to handle it.

Of course, there are those who stay up past lights out, engage in inappropriate behavior, and shame their cluster and their suite in a variety of ways. Liberties should be rewarded based on maturity, but then again it would be a bit difficult to micromanage that.

So we had a movie night today. The movie was Anchorman. Which brings me to another issue: mandatory activities. I did not mind the ice breakers the first week and the COSMOS Olympics, in hindsight they were actually really helpful in breaking down the barriers within our cluster and other COSMOS members.
But mandatory movie night? Really? I have already watched Anchorman before and it is a one-time movie: maybe I just don't enjoy the crude humor as much as other people but I found it painful to sit in that room for the whole 1 hour and 48 minutes. And there was no alternates either. We were not allowed to leave to sit outside in the hall with the exception of the one kid who was smart enough to have brought his laptop over. In addition, after the movie was over, I was slightly peeved that the people who escaped the theater early were expected to wait for the RAs to hold our hands back to the dorms.

I apologize for the caustic tone this entry is written in. I really love the COSMOS program and everyone in it. But are just some minor issues that really bother me and I feel should be brought up.

got science?

We ended last week with eating lunch with Dr. Tu. It was interesting hearing how students heard about COSMOS and why they chose Cluster 1. It was also nice to have lunch close to our classroom, since the CSE (also called EBU3) is next to EBU 2.

Monday I tagged along with the second group that went over to the CalIT2 building to a lab. Rajesh arranged for us to visit one of his labs. There is a remote controlled helicopter that is equipped to charge sensors in a bridge. The bridge sensors relay bridge data to help scientists/engineers determine if the bridge is safe. This system would be implemented after an earthquake, for example. It was really nice to see an interdisciplinary lab - they had different engineering disciplines working in the same lab. Very cool work and research.

Today, we started looking at data and how it's used in the "real-world" and in research. We also had a discovery lecturer who spoke on stem cells. I must say, I learned a lot. I knew about stem cells, in general. I'm not a biologist, I'm a computer engineer, but it was very interesting and accessible.

We ended the day by attending the Science Buddies presentation. Ken shared the various science competitions that students can compete in - Intel Science Talent Search, Siemens Science, Math and Technology competition and Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, to name a few. Ronit came and shared her Intel ISEF and science fair experiences with the clusters. Ronit is a COSMOS alum and two time Intel ISEF finalist from San Diego. It was a great presentation because of the various videos clips that really highlighted what the experiences are with these competitions and shows that the students involved are "regular" students. These are students that our COSMOS students are and know. I have to admit, I really loved the part where the STS finalists are in New York and see their pictures and names in the big bright lights in Times Square. They got pictures of themselves with the big broadcasted pictures of themselves above them. How cool is that?! Who wouldn't love to see their picture and name in lights in Times Square? I got a chance to talk "shop" (science fair shop) to Ken a bit before and after the presentation. It was great to meet him and discuss science fair stuff. During the presentation, Ken mentioned various skills that students should know/excel at to be successful in the competitions. The skills mentioned are those that are taught and practiced in the Science Communication class. The Sci. Comm. class is designed to hone those skills and prepare them to be successful in scientific and engineering research projects.

Last night, I had a cooking class. It was entitled, "Steaks, Steaks, Steaks!" What do you think the focus was on? It was a lot of fun. I learned A LOT about steaks - the cuts, recipes, and techniques. It was my second cooking class this month. Last Thursday, I had a "Berry Desserts" class. That was all on various desserts which included strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc. One of the best recipes was a blackberry sorbet. I made the blackberry sorbet on Sunday at home. Very yummy. The next one I'll try is the tart. My cluster TAs are after me to make something I've learned for them. I just want to practice the recipe before I share it with others. My lucky husband gets to be the guinea pig on my recipes -- lucky for him, it usually turns out good, I just sometimes have to work on the presentation/visual of it. You are never to old to learn something new. As a friend of mine says, "You learn something old, every new day." One of the things I like about taking classes for myself, it constantly reminds me how my students must feel when I share something that I know and is second-nature to me, but new to them. We all struggle with learning different things, new things and at different rates. Sometimes, it comes easy for us, and some times it doesn't. As a student, you sometimes struggle with understanding what is going on and try to make meaning out of it. When I go and take classes, I really remember that. I don't like taking that feeling forgranted - when I do, I think it makes me less of a teacher.

Tuesday

Today m&ms were apparently a big theme. We used them to study defective products in science communication (and then we ate them of course), and then we were given m&ms to "wake us up" before a presentation from Science Buddies. Food was as usual. During the lab, I started off working on the USB lab but decided that all the configurations necessary made it not worth it, and I ended up learning how to map values onto a port using the built in port data registers. 

STEM&Ms

We have now started calling our dorms, "home." All of us are a tightly knit family, as we have grown to spend so much time with each other.

Sunday was probably the most enjoyable day yet, after Knotts. We went to the beach! This was really fun, because the water was refreshing, and all of us had a great time. Next, we had a jello fight, except the jello was more of a slushie. It got messy, but again we enjoyed ourselves.

We were tired on Sunday and despised waking up early again for Monday morning. However, once we got to our classes, we were glad we came. The highlight of the day was we had Professor Freund give a presentation about cameras and microphones, due to the experiment he is working on. It is very interesting.

On Tuesday, it was the second discovery lecture. This was very entertaining and informative, as it was about Stem Cells. I think that scientists are pursuing a great thing, and I am sure we will be able to cure many people. In addition, we had M&M labs. We analyzed the defective M&Ms, etc. This represents the title, STEM&Ms. We also had a presentation by ScienceBuddies about Intel/Siemens Science Fairs.

So, here's a summary: It's been an exciting week so far, and I am looking forward to more. Well, I have to leave now, as I have to complete a 5 page research paper on self-driving cars and traffic lights. Good bye!

Monday, Monday, Monday.

Today's been slow but good. I actually just realized it's Tuesday, but that's besides the point. Breakfast today was good as usual--loved the french toast!

Tuesday 7/15

Today we had a discovery lecture on stem cell research, which turned out to be interesting, followed by usual lectures and hands-on work.

The food is starting to get a little repetitive...

Tonight, though we watched a *mandatory* movie (which I had already seen). It would be nice if not all activities were mandatory so we could get ahead on homework or have more free time (or at least more than one activity choice) instead

Beginning of second week

This week has been good so far; there was an interesting stem cell research lecture by Larry Goldstein from Harvard, who I actually knew of for once, and a just as interesting lecture on converting and the computer by someone else I didn't know about. I've been learning quite a bit of C, and had frustration and success like last week. I've also been a bit irritated by the abundance of bell peppers in the food, but I manage. Cubing has been fun. I hope to have more fun later this week!!

* THIS is the ACTUAL 80th post on the blog. Some others were deleted.

JULY 15TH 2008, TUESDAY

I'm currently doing project 4. I'm just typing the C code for it. I guess I need to add some LEDs as well, but I'll do that later.
Today has passed by fast. I really enjoyed the M&M lab we had today with Shirley, Thanks Shirley for the M&M's. They were DEEE-LICIOUS!
And well I'll just post this for now, I'll add another blog later, hopefully.


And I found out today that my parents weren't coming for the weekend. =(

Oh Well....

Tuesday

Today was another discovery lecture, this time on stem cell research. We studied statistics in class and are now doing some sort of USB lab. Last night I spun poi during activity time and our suite played cards.

Another Week at UCSD

It's another week at COSMOS at UCSD and we are busy working on our discover project. Currently, I am sitting in Café Ventanas blogging away while sipping my drink. The food service staff here is very nice and hospitable, they go out of their way to ensure we have a nice dining experience. However, the food seems to stay the same everyday at Breakfast. Okay, so I don't normally eat breakfast at home, and that's always the same, but something about having eggs and bacon everyday seems to drag on. The lunch and dinner is varied though, so that's good to have variation.

Anyhow, today we have a Discover Lecture on stem cell research. Then we will work on our communication skills workbook. I changed my discover project to "Traffic Lights/Traffic Signaling" and hope to begin my research today.

My one suggestion to future trips to the beach and other short distance excursions is to board on a "confirmed bus schedule" instead of a "standby boarding" (i.e. everyone get in line for this bus, if you don't make it wait until the next bus). If a bus schedule is implemented, students would have the option of choosing which "Block" they want to attend (e.g. 12PM-4PM Block or 12:30PM-4:30PM). Using this system would seem more structured, and would allow for more relaxed transportation, as students would just meat 10 minutes or so before their scheduled bus departure. Doing it by this schedule would allow for a faster boarding process as well as better time utilization.

Live Another Week with a Red Spoon

This keeps looking more and more like a diary than a blog... I am going to start writing less and less personal things.

The only thing that ruined my day was that people cheated in Capture The Flag. Everything was messy since the beginning. People were not really cooperating with the rules. I am glad I am back safely in my Suite with my suitees. Haha, yeah I call my "suite-mates" my suitees haha.

Good Night