Tony and Greta dot com

Category: School

  • Thesis dates

    Well I have really dove head-first into writing my thesis. I don’t know if that means my updates will shrink or increase. I guess that depends on the progress I make. So far things are going well. I’ll keep a running count of how things are going.

    Just to give you a timeline, here are future dates/deadlines:

    December 6th: Submit first working copy of my Thesis to my Committee Members
    December 20-ish: Defend my Thesis
    January 3rd:Final Draft is due.

    So it looks like I will finish before the baby comes (hallejuah) but I won’t walk until the end of Winter quarter. That’s not too bad.

  • The Cleanroom

    I was super busy today, down in the cleanroom for the better part of six hours. When we do processing down in the cleanroom, we use some nasty chemicals. I’ve used some seriously nasty stuff that past month or so and I am extra careful to follow all the safety precautions, wearing gloves, the apron, googles and a face shield. Even still, I always worry that something bad is gonna happen and I’m gonna spill something on myself. It’s funny how your mind plays tricks on you when you are trying to be extra careful. But I guess it’s pays to be cautious cause we do use some nasty stuff. What kind of stuff, you ask?

    NH4OH (Ammonium Hydroxide) This stuff is a nasty poison that is actually pretty common in most industrial cleaning solvents. It’s bad stuff.

    HCl (Hydrocholoric Acid) Most common acid used I would imagine. You also have some in your stomach. It does a good job of removing trace metals which is why we use it, but it still freaks me out.

    H202 (Hydrogen Peroxide) This stuff doesn’t scare me too much but it’s included because it sounds cool. I guess there are certain facts about hydrogen peroxide they don’t want you to know about.

    HNO3 (Nitric Acid) By itself it’s not too bad, but whoozers. It can do some serious damage.

    HF (Hydroflouric Acid). This stuff is the most horrible in my mind. I don’t really burn your skin, it actually is transported through your skin and then attacks your bones. Here are a couple gross pictures of what it can do.

    So anyway, I’m getting ready to do the last step in our process which is to dip my samples in an H2O:HNO3:HF solution which etches our devices. So I get ready to dip the samples into the beaker and I realize I’m not wearing googles, face mask, or protective gloves. Then I realize I that my glove that I was using to agitate the samples was wet. So I got all freaked out, thinking for sure it was covered in this nasty acid concoction. All of a sudden I think my fingers are starting to hurt. I’m sure my skin is gonna start sluffing off any second now. Turns out that I had cleaned out a water beaker only seconds before the acid dip and it was only water on my hands.

    But I’ll be darned if my mind was playing tricks on me all the way home. I still am looking at my fingers, looking for the tell-tale signs of an acid burn. If I wake up tomorrow with fingers like the picture above, I’ll let you know.

  • School Update

    School is back is session, full force. It’s wierd to think this is my last quarter, barring any natural disasters (dead link). I’m been working my tail off, I really want to finish strong. Still no job prospects out there, but I’m not too desperate just yet. Something good will come up. Now that I am pretty satisfied with the layout of my page, I’m going to start adding other pages as necessary. I’m also toying with Paint Shop Pro, trying to get a nice looking logo and some other stuff. I’m no artist (pronounced ar’TEECE’te) but I’m really enjoying PSP.

  • Hotter than a…

    I could say that I’ve been sooo busy that I have neglected adding anything here. I guess that would be partially true. School is now in summer quarter, so I’m just working my little hiney off, trying to get things finished.

    I haven’t encountered much fun stuff lately online. I’m enjoying the site Epinions.com, where you can rewrite reviews (they call them reviews and opinions) on just about any topic – movies, cars, computer hardware, vacation spots, and get paid for it. It’s not lucrative but addicting. I’ve written 4 reviews so far. Go here to read my reviews. I’ve always enjoyed writing, but I’m not very good at it yet, so I’ve got to keep practicing. It is nice to see when people rate your review as being “Very Helpful”. That’s always cool.

  • May Day

    Not much going on right now, school is bearing down on me pretty hard, but that’s to be expected. I never thought a class could put such a damper on my ego but my EE832 class has got me pretty stumped. It’s quite possibly the toughest class I’ve had. But I need another 800-level class to finish up, so I gotta get things done. My Thesis is moving along (possibly not at the rate I’d like it to, but it is getting there. Other than that, I’m alive. that’s good enough for me.

    Got some new stuff to write about. First off, there’s a website called Where’s George? that has been around a while but I just started using it. It has a cool concept: you enter in the serial number of a dollar bill (or a five, ten, whatever) and it then tracks that bill. If someone else then finds your bill and subsequently enters it into the database you get a ‘hit’. The more bills you enter, the better your chances. Originally they had rubber stamps you could use to stamp your bills with ‘www.wheresgeorge.com’ so others would find the site as well. They no longer sell them, but you could always write the address yourself. If you ever get a bill marked like that, check out the site, it’s pretty cool.

    This link is making the rounds in emails and other such places. If you haven’t received an email like this, check it out. Supposedly you can see a ghost image somewhere. iIcan’t see it. They also say if you turn up your speakers you can hear whisperings. I dunno, I can’t hear anything.

    Ever since I quit Diablo (and made a few bucks, too) I haven’t played a good RPG. I’ve since got Dungeon Siege. It’s a pretty cool game with some sweet graphics and entertaining game play. The story is weak, but the graphics and everything else makes up for it.

    I bought a Diet Coke today for lunch, and as I was walking back to my office I realized there’s no ‘cool’ way to carry a bottle of soda pop. If you grab it by the top in between two fingers it looks really wierd. If you grip it around the neck, your hand is usually too big for it and if you grab it by the body your hand warms it up and it loses its cool (no pun intended). That’s just something I realized today.