learning about networks

Yesturday I downloaded a ppt about Computer Networks. The power point compliments the book that I will use next year at Virginia Tech. The material in this power point seems basic and not too difficult to comprehend. The only problem is getting the concepts to stick to my memory before I forget ! Maybe that is why repetition is very important when learning new concepts. I am still on Chapter 1, FOR OBVIOUS REASONS, but I am learning a lot! I feel that I should have taken at least one network course while I at San Jose State, but I never envisioned myself working as a Network engineer. Maybe if we all had a crystal ball to see the future, we will all be successful and rich! But being able to predict the future is black magic !

Submitted my proposal and ready for my vacation

I am not really good at keeping up with blogs.... We will leave it as that!

I am finally done with my proposal and have submitted my complete application to NSF. I do not know what my fate will be, but whatever it is, it might not be so good. I had to condense more than 3 pages worth of effort down to two pages, in order to fufil the requirement for NSF. I didn't realize the ywo page requirement until the day before I had to submit. The blame must go to me if I do not win the NSF fellowship because I should have known the requirements before applying. I cannot beat myself up too much because the proposal, being either four or two pages, was written well. In a few months, NSF will post the winners of the competition. If I win, then I do not have to worry about funding for the next six years of my doctoral degree, but if I do not win, then I have to reapply for next year's competition. I have learned a great deal about myself through the process of writing the proposal. I couldn't believe how much effort I put into a piece of paper, and after competion, being several times more knowledgable about my research area. Now I can talk to people about my research with a lot of confidence. Though I do not have detailed knowledge and still need to take graduate courses to get more in-depth knowlege, I envision myself being a true expert in my research field. Some day I will develop an original idea to enhance software defined radios. However, until that day comes, I will continue to learn as much as I can and ask a lot of questions.

I recently booked a flight to Madrid, Spain and Amsterdam, Holland. I can not wait to travel to Europe for the second time. I seriously need to work on my Spanish or else I will be doomed again ! Necessito aprender espanol !!

My first session

This is my first time blogging! I have decided to log my daily activites, and anything that sparks my attention. I hope to gain a better understanding of myself through these blogs ! Let's see where this blog thing takes me !!

Well, today, I talked to my professor, Dr. MacKenzie from Virginia Tech. He seems like a nice guy, very insightful, and helpful. I got some feedback from him today about my research proposal. He said it was 10 times better than my first attempt. Although my proposal was not quite what he expected, he told me that I have conveyed the big picture on paper and that is a good start. Dr. MacKenzie mentioned in our discussion, today, that parallizing the hardware does not solve the perfomance issue. Instead, the proposal made by CMU is a good attempt at solving performance issue of SDR. CSMA or Rx and Tx turnaround times is the key issue with performance and this needs to be addressed through means of a novel approach, like the one purposed by CMU. Well, I am hopeing that I will get his feedback tomorrow. If I do not get it by the weekend, I should e-mail him, and if he does not no reply, then I will include journal publications, re-read my essays, and then submit to NSF.

Let's see.