Wednesday, July 26, 2006
So I've been a slacker, and haven't kept this blog up to date. I'm a horrible person etc. etc.
I received some good news from my boss yesterday. She seems to like what I've been doing and offered me a job during the school year taking whatever hours I like. I really like the idea of having some income during the school year to cover all the random stuff that pops up. I might even try out some MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer On-line Role Playing Game).
So tonight I went into the "office" (read: clean room) and prepped a wafer to apply a coating of "Protek". I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I get the impression its a sort of plastic that you can spin on the wafer like photoresist. With any luck, it'll be a pretty easy process. Kyle told me that the process takes about 3 hours to do, which I'm not opposed to on principle, but I have a sneaky suspicion that it'll be about 1 hour of work, and about 2 hours of sitting on my hands waiting for it to bake or some such.
I'm also learning about the award wafers they make for graduate students who did their thesis on a MEMS related topic at WSU. They make two of 'em for each person, one that they get, the other that goes into a display outside the MEMS lab. It has their name, and their thesis title and year they did their thing, all in gold plating on a wafer. The process is pretty cool. Turns out they don't apply the gold in the areas they want (like gilding or gold leaf or whatever its called), but instead sputter gold (blast it off a brick using plasma in a vacuum chamber) onto the wafer, then using a photolith process and a developer, they disolve the gold away from the spots they don't want it. Pretty neat, really. I wanted to see if I could make one for myself or for my friends (completely unrelated to WSU), and it looks like I might be able to, but it'll cost me like 50 bucks.
I gave my presentation in Anthro 201: Music in Society today. It went well. I started it by playing the opening few bars of Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Bach. Sort of a Phantom of the Opera theme. Then I gave a really short history of classical music, playing period music for the class as I talked. I had Gregorian chant into a Bach Invention (with the dual melodies, one played on each hand on a piano) then into symphony music. It was very well receved, and I got 25/25 points for it. The paper I wrote for the class (sort of a final) I scored 98/100, which I'm pretty pleased about. I only got an 82 on the second test though, so I'm not exactly sure what my grade is going to be, but it'll either be a B+ or an A-. In hind sight, the class was ok for the most part, but really uninteresting to me. I laughed when I read the course evaluation. I've filled a bunch of them out for my engineering classes, but the ones in the Anthro department were pretty different. The engineering ones are filled with questions like: "The instructor presented the material in an understandable way", "I have learned the material presented" and the like. This one had a bunch of "After taking this class, I feel that I have a greater appreciation for different cultures" and "The instructor presented a non-biased view toward the material." A subtle change, but it ammused me. There's no such thing as a biased view towards engineering, except perhaps in a favorite method of solving a problem or some such.
So last spring I was roped into seeing the film version of the Broadway play "Rent," which is about a bunch of unemployed gays and transvestites who all have AIDS. After seeing it, I felt like I should shower. Now, I'm not homophobic, or anything like that, but the whole thing gave the impression that if you're successful, generous, or healthy, you are somehow inferior. Long story short, it made me angry. Today, a girl in my Anthro class gave her presentation on the movie. I probably should have seen it coming. In class she often piped up with rather feminist points of view, and brought up "socioeconomic class" several times. (I've found that anyone who uses the term "socioeconomics" tends to believe on some level that being rich is a crime.) She went on for her allotted time talking about how the movie puts a human face on so many underpriviledged and poor souls who just need a helping hand and to be understood and so on. . . While she was talking, I was almost literally grinding my teeth together. My personal goal is to be able to contribute to society in some way that is meaningful, and pays well enough that I can take care of myself and my family one day. I personally don't think that I'm a bad person for thinking thats a noble goal. Apparently, that makes me a horrible person. Ohh, and I'm homophobic because I don't support gay marriage. (I'm all in favor of letting gays/lesbians have legal protections, just not BECAUSE they're gay/lesbian. If EVERYONE were treated equally, then there would be no reason to get married in the first place, because marriage implies an unequal relationship with a person than with everyone else.... a rant for another day.) Turns out.
Anyway, I suppose it doesn't really matter now cause the class is over *happy-dance*. This Friday my dad is going to pick me up and fly me back to Battle Ground so I can help put the engine back on the 172. It'll be nice to be up in the air again. I've decided I'm definitely suffering from low altitude sickness.
My dad just bought a boat. Its moored up in Olympia, which, conveniently, is where Cortni lives. On Saturday my folks and I are going to head up to take a little shakedown cruise with the incidental aid of Dwight Knecktle (sp?), Dad's old partner. I haven't seen him for a few years, and it'll be fun to learn about the boat. ("It's such a pretty boat . . . -- ship"-- Captn. Jack Sparrow).
Well, tomorrow at 9 I have to go in and do the Protek coating process, so I should get to bed.
I received some good news from my boss yesterday. She seems to like what I've been doing and offered me a job during the school year taking whatever hours I like. I really like the idea of having some income during the school year to cover all the random stuff that pops up. I might even try out some MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer On-line Role Playing Game).
So tonight I went into the "office" (read: clean room) and prepped a wafer to apply a coating of "Protek". I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I get the impression its a sort of plastic that you can spin on the wafer like photoresist. With any luck, it'll be a pretty easy process. Kyle told me that the process takes about 3 hours to do, which I'm not opposed to on principle, but I have a sneaky suspicion that it'll be about 1 hour of work, and about 2 hours of sitting on my hands waiting for it to bake or some such.
I'm also learning about the award wafers they make for graduate students who did their thesis on a MEMS related topic at WSU. They make two of 'em for each person, one that they get, the other that goes into a display outside the MEMS lab. It has their name, and their thesis title and year they did their thing, all in gold plating on a wafer. The process is pretty cool. Turns out they don't apply the gold in the areas they want (like gilding or gold leaf or whatever its called), but instead sputter gold (blast it off a brick using plasma in a vacuum chamber) onto the wafer, then using a photolith process and a developer, they disolve the gold away from the spots they don't want it. Pretty neat, really. I wanted to see if I could make one for myself or for my friends (completely unrelated to WSU), and it looks like I might be able to, but it'll cost me like 50 bucks.
I gave my presentation in Anthro 201: Music in Society today. It went well. I started it by playing the opening few bars of Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Bach. Sort of a Phantom of the Opera theme. Then I gave a really short history of classical music, playing period music for the class as I talked. I had Gregorian chant into a Bach Invention (with the dual melodies, one played on each hand on a piano) then into symphony music. It was very well receved, and I got 25/25 points for it. The paper I wrote for the class (sort of a final) I scored 98/100, which I'm pretty pleased about. I only got an 82 on the second test though, so I'm not exactly sure what my grade is going to be, but it'll either be a B+ or an A-. In hind sight, the class was ok for the most part, but really uninteresting to me. I laughed when I read the course evaluation. I've filled a bunch of them out for my engineering classes, but the ones in the Anthro department were pretty different. The engineering ones are filled with questions like: "The instructor presented the material in an understandable way", "I have learned the material presented" and the like. This one had a bunch of "After taking this class, I feel that I have a greater appreciation for different cultures" and "The instructor presented a non-biased view toward the material." A subtle change, but it ammused me. There's no such thing as a biased view towards engineering, except perhaps in a favorite method of solving a problem or some such.
So last spring I was roped into seeing the film version of the Broadway play "Rent," which is about a bunch of unemployed gays and transvestites who all have AIDS. After seeing it, I felt like I should shower. Now, I'm not homophobic, or anything like that, but the whole thing gave the impression that if you're successful, generous, or healthy, you are somehow inferior. Long story short, it made me angry. Today, a girl in my Anthro class gave her presentation on the movie. I probably should have seen it coming. In class she often piped up with rather feminist points of view, and brought up "socioeconomic class" several times. (I've found that anyone who uses the term "socioeconomics" tends to believe on some level that being rich is a crime.) She went on for her allotted time talking about how the movie puts a human face on so many underpriviledged and poor souls who just need a helping hand and to be understood and so on. . . While she was talking, I was almost literally grinding my teeth together. My personal goal is to be able to contribute to society in some way that is meaningful, and pays well enough that I can take care of myself and my family one day. I personally don't think that I'm a bad person for thinking thats a noble goal. Apparently, that makes me a horrible person. Ohh, and I'm homophobic because I don't support gay marriage. (I'm all in favor of letting gays/lesbians have legal protections, just not BECAUSE they're gay/lesbian. If EVERYONE were treated equally, then there would be no reason to get married in the first place, because marriage implies an unequal relationship with a person than with everyone else.... a rant for another day.) Turns out.
Anyway, I suppose it doesn't really matter now cause the class is over *happy-dance*. This Friday my dad is going to pick me up and fly me back to Battle Ground so I can help put the engine back on the 172. It'll be nice to be up in the air again. I've decided I'm definitely suffering from low altitude sickness.
My dad just bought a boat. Its moored up in Olympia, which, conveniently, is where Cortni lives. On Saturday my folks and I are going to head up to take a little shakedown cruise with the incidental aid of Dwight Knecktle (sp?), Dad's old partner. I haven't seen him for a few years, and it'll be fun to learn about the boat. ("It's such a pretty boat . . . -- ship"-- Captn. Jack Sparrow).
Well, tomorrow at 9 I have to go in and do the Protek coating process, so I should get to bed.
posted by Nick at 1:14 AM
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