- Became Elders Quorum President of one of the newly formed quorums in my ward in Alexandria, VA
- Confirmed to graduate from GWU this year
Both of these items are very significant to me (life-changing really...), and honestly that's still not all of it (been a busy guy...)! It blows me away that everything has happened so quickly in the early goings of 2011, and I can't help but wonder what's in store for the rest of this already entertaining year.
Even so, I find myself thinking about time a lot. I'm turning 28 later this year and I'm also (joyously) finding myself on the cusp of accomplishing some things that have taken years to set the stage for. It's been strange after plugging along with school and everything for so long to be thinking finally about what it'll be like with a reduced load and more time on my hands (which I'm sure I'll find ways to take advantage of :). Even more so, to realize that I'll most likely be done with about half of my Masters degree as well by the time 2011 comes to a close is really exciting; I feel like a lot of things are coming together for me and that many things that once seemed so far away are becoming a reality.
Sentimental? Well, I can at least promise it's sincere :) To the list...
Professional Pursuits and Academics
Lots to report here actually. I obviously already mentioned the biggest news about graduation, which I'm very excited for. I am on track to graduate with honors from the School of Engineering and Applied Science, which is the end of a project that started all the way back in August 2001. I think about what's happened since then - before 9/11; before Honduras; before the Nacogdoches 2nd Branch; before DC and the wonderful people I've met here; before so much that I never would have anticipated.
It is poignant too to think of it from another perspective. Sometimes when I talk to my classmates (among whom at the oldest clocks in at 22 I think) it reminds me of how long I've been working on this. When I was 17 and starting college, some of them were still 10 years old...
...and that was before I talked to the graduate advisor of my biophysics lab, who is working on his PhD and just told me that he's a year younger than me. Yeah... it's high time this chapter of my life came to a close.
I know a lot of people have been very understanding of my delays (and I appreciate all of you greatly as this has been an albatross of mine for a long time), but I do just want to comment that I never imagined I'd still be working on this nearly 10 years later. I was a junior with 80+ credit hours completed in spring 2003, and yes while there were some very legitimate reasons for my delays it suffices me to say that I'm ready to be done!
That out of my system :), I'd like to share as well that the team of computer architecture research I'm a part of at GWU is gearing up to get not only our phase-change random access memory (see the link for an explanation of what that is) paper published by March but also we're working on our next paper for publication regarding power considerations in computer architecture. Essentially we're taking an in-depth look at the electrical power consumption as a result of both processor architecture (defined as the circuit and logical layout of a central processing unit) and of the role software plays in how much electricity is consumed. Keep in mind that more power consumed means more heat generated which in turn means all sorts of problems for your beloved information-processing machine, so we think that this is a timely topic in this age of ever-increasing data crunching.
Speaking of ever-increasing data crunching, I thought I'd also mention that I've been in contact with the powers that be and have basically also been cleared to incorporate a graduate-level certificate into my Masters program. It's for high-performance computing, which deals with (no surprise here) supercomputers and parallel computing. The nice thing about this is that it will not add any additional time to my program - all courses for it will count directly towards my Masters, so essentially I'll have a "super-focus" to go along with my concentration in architecture and networking.
What am I going to do with all that (degrees in IT, biomedical engineering, and computer engineering)? The plan at this point is straightforward: new medical imaging modalities and quantum computing. Many people have been confused about how all of this comes together, so check this out - it puts it all together rather simply. Quantum computing of course seems to be a future technology that I think would have a lot of applications in crunching massive amounts of data.
Looking more towards the future, I'm working currently on improving my programming skills (C, Java, MATLAB, and LabVIEW to begin with) and I'm prepping to take the Fundamentals of Engineering exam to make my grandest schemes become a reality (those of an engineering firm...). Lots of groundwork being laid this year.
Politics
As I was working on some things tonight, I decided to stream Pres. Obama's 2011 State of the Union address so I could hear what he had to say. Gotta say - I appreciated several things form it:
- The upbeat, can-do tone of "American Exceptionalism" (count me as a believer :)
- The echoes of JFK for America to step up our involvement in the development of technology and to re-take our place at the head of the "class" in math and science (the engineer in me)
- The generally toned-down rhetoric of discussing working together to solve problems
He came off a bit to me as being very changed from before the 2010 election "shellacking" the Democrats experienced, and honestly I applaud him for the humbler "let's-work-together" tone he's struck. I think he's shown a decisive move towards the center of our political spectrum, though I still have some major issues with many of the policy decisions that he has made (that's a "no" from me on Obamacare and a "no" from me on a moratorium on offshore drilling along with another "no" for spending trillions of dollars when we were already massively in debt). Here's to hoping we can avoid what the GAO has warned about for years starting in the Bush administration and have a country to speak of in 30 years.
The Bodacious Tour 2011: Life in Full Bloom
While we haven't gone on a trip yet, stay tuned - they're coming!
Interesting
See the amazing things medicine and technology can do?
Teen with bionic hand
White lion cubs always are interesting, right? :)
White lion cubs
Speaking of lions, this is interesting. Maybe it's not just elephants who never forget...
Christian the Lion
Catch you next week!
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