One down...

...Four to go.



This is the final video of our Computerized Automatic Leveler (CAL - clever, huh?) for my mechatronics class at UC Berkeley. My friend/group member did all of the CAD animation. It's a device that makes things horizontally level. Applications? Tables, car cup holders, rehab devices, etc...I'll put a link to our website up soon.

This project went really well because I had an awesome group. I'm just waiting for the rest of the semester to end. So close, yet oh so far. I have one more final tomorrow, a 20 page lab report due tomorrow, two tradeshows on Thursday, and a ginormous, bound to be @$$-whooping final in a week. Just gotta survive until the 18th. Haha. Wish me luck.

When it rains, it pours.

I'm not talking about salt. I'm talking about life.

Seriously. This week has started out swimmingly (I only use words like this when I'm sarcastic) - yesterday was uneventful other than a not-so-bad pop-quiz in one of my classes, but today has seriously brought the suck factor to a whole new level.

First of all, I got a ticket that I'm pretty sure I didn't deserve. Here's the story: I put 21 minutes in a meter at 3:03 PM, went into a store, came out at 3:23 PM, and drove off. That was when I noticed this white thing tucked under my windshield, flapping around just to spite me. I pulled over, checked out the ticket, and it said "Parking violation...blah blah blah...issued at 3:08 PM). Wtf? So I drove back to the meter to get proof that I had paid, but it had already expired. I swear, some bitter old meter maid issued tickets before the meters ran out of time, then ticketed cars exactly when the meters ran out. I hate Lafayette.

When I came home, I turned on my laptop and within a few minutes an error message came up that said "No Disk - Windows: Exception Processing Message...blah blah blah." That was weird, so I went online to find the source of the error. NORTON ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE: the king virus you install on your computer to get rid of other viruses. It turns out that Norton can mess up your system because of glitches in its setup/updating processes, so that's what happened to my computer. Segway-slash-not really: Norton effs up registry values on your computer, and when you try to uninstall it (which is very difficult), it tears a jagged hole in your system. So basically, I uninstalled Norton from my computer (links on how to do this at the end), had to fix everything it left in its wake of destruction, and reinstalled a different antivirus thing on my computer. I was ready to take a nap, but then I noticed a notification that I had a new virus on my computer. This one was pretty nasty, and I think I got it in the interim when I was deleting Norton from my computer. This whole process took me the whole afternoon.

And to top it all off, I have an interview for a graduate program at my school tomorrow. I'm not prepared at all, so wish me luck.

Links:

http://www.consumingexperience.com/2007/11/windows-no-disk-exception-processing.html

http://bleuken.i.ph/blogs/bleuken/2007/06/29/viruses-that-uses-autoruninf/

People suck.

I was riding BART to work the other day, and lately it's been packed. I dunno if its the gas prices, or the heat, or whatever, but there's never an open seat on the morning train anymore. Basically, this means that I get to work grumpy because I don't get to nap on the way to work anymore.

The train was as crowded as ever yesterday--no open seats again--and this prego chick got on at a stop. The effed up thing is that NO ONE got up to give her a seat for a couple stops. I would have, but I was standing too. Finally, a retarded person in a seat by the doors got up, so I let prego know that a seat was open.

How messed up is it that a retarded lady had to give up her seat to a pregnant girl on the train? Kinda makes me afraid to like have a heart attack or something on BART. Mofos would probably keep minding their own business, or take pictures with their cell phone cameras. Nice world we live in.

More bad new. I gotta take the GREs this Saturday. Wish me luck.

I wanna end on a good note, so I'll just say that there's a company picnic this Sunday with free booze. AND I found out that my boss isn't gonna be there, so :)