As for the event, it will be in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park on March 30th (more info here). The registration fees will go towards sarcoma cancer research.  Good cause, healthy activity, and in the middle of San Francisco.  How much better can it get?  I will update with some pictures once the event is done.  Now on to training! yippee!

What the heck is a transistor anyways?

I will be honest to say that I did not know what one was until I entered college. Sure I’ve heard the term before and knew that tube amps (the non-silicon old school version of the transistor) were used in audio amplifiers. As a master’s student in electrical engineering I should feel a bit ashamed!!! The transistor is a semiconductor material (historically made of silicon but other materials have been used in newer technologies) that is used for electrical switching and amplification purposes.

Why do we want to switch and amplify?

Thanks to these bad boys you have an iPod, or the computer you’re staring at and even your microwave (and interestingly in your toilet if you have one of those fancy bidet toilets that warms your seats.). If you think of your light switch there are two states: on and off. In all computing devices (which is included in most electronic components) its functionality can be broken down to a complex network of these on and off switches. For example an Intel Core 2 family processor has about half a billion transistors.

The amplification is necesarry as well. When people talk about “analog” or “digital” electronics, the core of analog electronics is amplifiers. Your cell phone for example uses amplification to send and receive RF signals from thin air. Also there are analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog circuits in there that are used to process incoming voice signals and also to blast your tiny speakers so you can hear the person on the other end. Still not impressed?

Why should I care about these nerdy things?

What inspired me to write this is the article written by Jack Ganssel on Embedded.com. It had changed how today is. We rely on this invention highly and just imagine if everything that had transistors embedded in them were taken away from us. See yourself in front of your PC at home. First there will be no PC, no thermostat to control your heat this winter, no television, no radio, and most likely your power and water sources since they may be controlled electronically by the plant. So basically you’re back in the 1800’s.

There are plenty of companies that dedicate making these chips crammed with semiconductors. There are also a good handful in the Fortune 500 (Intel leading at 62 on the list) , as well as companies that rely on these chips to make their products. Despite the scare of Moore’s Law, the industry isn’t going anywhere. It is full of very intelligent (and nerdy) people and will continue to thrive and innovate.http://www.embedded.com/columns/breakpoint/204300309 I hope this has gotten your attention to appreciate such a great invention!

This is a new series that I am going to start regarding meals that can be easily made and is healthy for you so you don’t have to result in consuming fast food. We are products of both being busy and lazy which starts to swerve our hunger needs towards expensive take out and drive through lunches. How to avoid it you ask?

Make your own lunch!

It is most of the time cheaper and easier than getting into your car and grabbing a meal on the go. The easiest and most economical way is to cook a larger meal the night before or a humongous meal at the beginning of the week so you can just bring in left overs.  Pasta is a very easy thing to make in huge amounts, however it’s not too healthy.  If you can get whole wheat pasta and the sauce with the least amount of calories.  Putting them in Tupperware containers allow you to portion your meals and you can avoid over eating as well.  Fruits and vegetables are also great snack foods and requires almost close to zero prep time.  Take an apple for example. Wipe off the wax and bite in! A normal sized apple contains about 100 calories and it can fill you up!

So what now?

This is more of an introduction post, so starting from the next of the series I will post ideas and recipes for meals that are easy to make and carry out of your house.  Suggestions are always welcome!

I came across an entry to a blog I frequent [freemoneyfinance.com] writing about how internships are great. Here is wht he had to say about internships:

1. They give you practical experience in a field, something most college graduates don’t have.
2. They allow you to rack up real-world accomplishments — perfect fodder for your resume.
3. They give you a built-in set of references.
4. They might just get you a job offer from the firm you worked for as an intern.
5. They can show you whether or not this line of work is to your liking.

My experience

I’ve personally have been on 4 separate internships. Some may think that is a little extreme but I have a really good reason doing so! First of all when I was at my undergraduate school at University of the Pacific our engineering curiculum required us to take two internships totaling a full year. I did both of mine at Cisco Systems as a hardware test engineer and it was good fun and practical. I met some great people there that I still speak and have fun with. The third one I went on is at Sandia national labs where I went before starting my master’s program at Stanford. And lastly I worked this last summer at National Semiconductor where I will most likely be working full time when I graduate here in the next few weeks.

All my internships were very interesting and I had learned a ton of stuff. It also helped me narrow down which field of electrical engineering I wanted to go into. Looking at the list above I’ve managed to acquire all 5 of the benefits. It’s really different learning something by the text and actually applying that knowledge. It also benefits because it reenforces your learning back in the classroom when yuo come back which amplifies your overall learning expereince.

You may be tempted to take the whole summer off or to finish school in time, but the benefit for having an internship pays off. A lot of internships will pay you to work (but be warned that some professions will not, but in engineering it is usually paid) so it is also a smart way to start paying off any accruing student loans! If the opportunity is there for you, take it and run!

You can read the original article here.

Wouldn’t it be great if you were able to turn a hobby or an interest into a second income? Take this blogging for example. I am enjoying sharing my experiences and thoughts but it also has some potential to creating some small dough. Although the amount of income will be small (or none!) at the beginning the most important part for me is that this income is just an icing on the cake. If there is something you really enjoy doing give it some thought of and putting effort into monetizing that fun. I believe to keep it fun and enjoyable as well as making some side cash from it, it is also important to keep a balance so your hobby does not turn into a chore.

Examples of a second income

• Set up a blog to talk about your interests
• If you are into crafts try selling them
• Enter competitions to show off your hobby, such as sports cars
• Design websites for other people

So now that we have seen some examples and ideas here are some pros and cons that I have thought of about creating a second income of this nature.

Pros:

• Something you used to do for fun can be used to make some money
• You get to continue your hobby with an added benefit
• You share your joy with a wider group of people

Cons:

• It may take the fun out of your hobby making it feel more obligatory
• It will most likely take some time to mature to break even and generate a profit
• For serious growth, serious attention is needed

Making a website is easy these days and its start up cost is very low. Now that is a cheap hobby! So what should a young person do with this excess cash? I would love to blow it on fun entertainment but the smartest thing to do would be to tuck it away into some type of investment. I will go into more detail later about what I’ve learned about investing and my plans in doing so. Until then, enjoy your hobbies!

Well we all eventually need to find a bank whether you are starting your first job or going off to college. Something to consider is to find a solid bank to protect your income. Choosing the wrong bank can run you into bad service, unfathomable fees or perhaps plain inconvenience. Choosing a bank could be fairly easy if you do a little bit of research.

What do I look for?

Here is a list of things you want to ask yourself that will help narrowing down which bank to choose:

• Do I want access to your account online?
• Do I want easy access to ATM locations?
• What types of account do I want?
• Do I want special services such as overdraft protection and bill pay?
• Does it have high interest rate for your saving needs?
• Will my money be FDIC insured?
• Do I want a one stop shop that has checking, savings, loans, etc?

My Experience:
I opened up a joint account with my folks at a credit union near my undergraduate school. The reason being is that there was an ATM located on campus and that it had the benefit of being a credit union. My parents also wanted a way of sending me money. There was not much research and the bank was chosen strictly due to convenience. Thankfully there were no fees attached to anything and everything has worked out fine. I still have this account but carry a very low amount in checking and savings and will probably be closing it in the near future.

When I went on my first internship I figured I should get a new checking account and to find a bank that would be close to my work. On top of that my previous bank’s online interface was extremely horrible. I ended up choosing Washington mutual since it was very easy to open an account, had no fees and had ATM’s everywhere. Also their web interface was very nicely made. Very recently they just updated their interface and it looks even nicer. I do not have any personal experiences with getting loans and mortgages here but those are available to members.

Choosing the right bank is not that tough as long as you do some of your homework. These days you can do most of your research online, as well as even opening your accounts via the web. Just make sure you know what you want and know what you can get and hopefully the choices will become more obvious. Good luck!

• Age 24
• Born in Indiana
• Raised in Japan
• Getting married next June to Crissy
• Finishing grad school at Stanford in Electrical Engineering
• Hoping to have a career in the semiconductor industry
• I have many too many hobbies

I will go into more detail in the next post and I should created a new section that is “about me”.

I’ve been in school since kindergarten and now I am 24. In the recent years I’ve started to learn about the real world out there since I’ve started to become more susceptable to the challenges of what the adult life offers, such as bills, marriage, work, etc… So I feel lost. Many times I do not know what to do and the only thing that helps me is to learn on my own and to learn from other people’s experiences. I’ve been in a safe haven for so long (with my parents and in the dorms). But now I feel like I’ve been dropped in a jungle and I have to play survivor man. It will be good times, but I want to share the journey with everyone.

In the end, it’s a neat theme dammit.

I did used to have a website here and yes it has been revamped. Everything from the previous website has been scratched. Why you ask? The content on there was very sporadic and I wanted to concentrate on a more focused topic and to have a purpose in what I was doing. I feel like now I have a much more solid  reason and the means to do so.

The next natural proceeding question would be: “What are you going to write about?”. I thought this over for a little bit and I will be concentrating on my profession Electrical Engineering. I know this is very broad but I would like to talk about how to design stuff wether it be microcontroller hobbyist stuff or transistor level, and I’ll talk about the field in general, such as how it’s like in academia and Industry. I feel like this is a good place to jot down my ideas and to explore others, as well as share it with the world. I’m in the transition of going from academia to industry and I have lots of information I can spurt out. This should be a fun journey :-). In the mean time I’ll try to build this consistently and post interesting things up!