The Phoenix's Blog

A quick rant

noreply@blogger.com (Eduardo Ruiz) — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 16:33:00 +0000

There's a few types of Facebook statuses that tend to annoy me quite a bit. Let's list them out:
1) Song Quotes
2) Inspirational Quotes
3) ... Pretty much just a long stream of never-ending quotes
Does anyone sense a pattern here?

Now, to be honest, I don't mind the occasional quote amid a stream of status updates. However, when your status is nothing but quotes, it gets a bit annoying. You are not a wise old man with years of experience to be giving out insiprational quotes around the clock. You are not a jukebox or music player for there to be 2000 song quote on yor profile. In fact, these types of quote makes you seem quite the opposite: a person desparate for attention, either from an individual or from a group of people. And for those people who quote love songs for their crush or S.O., it's a bit annoying that you do so on Facebook. There are better and more private methods of doing so, without having to smother the rest of us with it.
Instead, go for status updates that are just that: status updates. I may not really care too much that you're eating a pb&j, but I can bet you that it's many times more interesting than a song quote for a song I've never heard.
Well, I guess that wasn't all that short after all.

Edit: Apparently there was some confusion as to what I was referring to in this post. I wasn't referring to any person in particular. As I said before, I do not mind an occasional quote, but when that is all a person posts, it tends to be somewhat annoying. I'm really only saying that a bit of variety in your status updates would be appreciated.

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My First Research Paper

noreply@blogger.com (Eduardo Ruiz) — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 04:16:00 +0000

For the past two weeks, I've been very busy writing a research paper. My advisor, Dr. Katherine Freese, asked me if I wanted to write the conference proceedings for a talk she gave at the First Stars and Galaxies Conference in Austin, TX. Seeing as this would put my name on a paper, give me experience writing papers, and help me better understand the material I'd be researching, I agreed to.

The next few days we very stressful, just trying to figure out what to do, and what information to put in the paper. Katie was very helpful, giving me tips and pointers whenever I was stuck. And, before long, I finally finished the paper.

It was an exhilarating process. I had to relearn a lot of the things I'd forgotten about LaTeX, and learn a few new things, like adding figures and making a bibliography. I learned how to create .eps pictures, and how to work with LaTeX macros. Overall, this paper, for all the twists and turns we had in preparing it, was one of the most fun times I've had this summer. The experience will greatly help me in my research endeavors, and I'm very grateful for my advisor for all the help she gave me along the way.

Since the paper is going to be published by the American Institute of Physics, I'm not entirely sure I can upload the paper onto my website. If, however, I am allowed to (since I am an author), I will upload it for people to download and read (if they care to).

Now onto figuring out some more Fortran...

Quals

noreply@blogger.com (Eduardo Ruiz) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 23:04:00 +0000

One thing most Graduate Students have to do at some point in their Graduate Career is to take what's known as the qualifying exam, or the quals. Many Students shudder when they hear this word; it brings either bad memories or extreme nervousness.
True to most universities, University of Michigan also has a qualifier prerequisite for becoming a Ph.D. candidate. As such, many of us graduate students scramble to try to remember things we learned in our undergraduate career, things that we sometimes haven't seen in 3-4 years.
This past weekend I took the first of two quals, the Classical Quals, at the University of Michigan. From what I coulld tell, it was a pretty fair test, making sure we had basica understanding of concepts that we should have learned while in undergrad. However, having not been exposed to many of the concepts presented for a while, I found myself stuggling with problems that I know that if I had tried answering back when I first learned about it, I would have found extremely easy. However, because of the time difference, I could not remember simple equations or relations between things.
Which brings me to my point: what is the point of these exams? Much of the test seems to revolve around knowledge of random equations, which, throughout all my my undergrad and graduate career, was never the focus of physics. Instead, at least as far as I know, physics is the interplay of concepts to try to come up with relationships between forces and interactions in the natural. By testing our knowledge of a small subset of physics equations, are they really probing how well we know physics?
Now, I'm probably exagerating a bit, because most of the problems involved a physical system and a questions about what happens. But, because many of my difficulties involved not remembering the equations, even though I knew what was going on, I could not solve the problem.
Several Universities are realizing this shortcoming of the qualifying exam and are either downplaying its importance or removing it from the requirements completely. Instead, they focus more on research done by the student, and how they've taken ideas from classes and applied them to their research (the idea behind the preliminary exam, whose premise I agree with).
Then again, maybe they expect us to remember pages and pages worth of somewhat random equations...

Eddie

Blogging in the New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Eduardo Ruiz) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 21:07:00 +0000

I have a nasty habit of not updating my blog very often. Usually, I get carried away with other things, mainly with schoolwork, that I forget to update or, more likely, say to myself, "I'll do that later." As it is a new year, I'm once again resolving to write more often on my blog.
So, there goes another year, and another decade. This has been a very busy year for me, with me graduating from Iowa State University and the start of Grad School at the University of Michigan. It's been a year of changes, of goodbyes and of new friends. But most importantly, it's been a year that's seen a maturing in myself. I've grown this year in ways that I could not have imagined when it started.
As 2010 commences, I only hope that I can continue to better myself as a person, to continue to pursue my dreams as a graduate student in physics, and to continue to live life to its fullest. After all, what's a new year if you don't live your life, exploring the new opportunities the year brings you? 2010 will be a good year, and one that I hope will be as memorable, if not more so, than the ones that have preceded it.

Life update

noreply@blogger.com (Eduardo Ruiz) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:29:00 +0000

The past few weeks have been full of ups and downs. In fact, I don't think I've ever experienced such a difference in mood in such a short time.
A few weeks ago, I took my midterms for my physics classes. Needless to say, they were extremly hard, and some were downright unfair. Well, I've gotten two of my tests back, and, unsurprizingly, I did horribly on both. The only good news is that the others also did pretty bad on the tests as well.
I plan on picking up my third test tomorrow, and hopefully, I'll have done better on this test, as it did seem the easiest and most fair of the three.
In addition to midterms, it seems like the homework load has doubled from earlier in the semester. Today, for example, I worked on a problem for about 6 hours straight, with only a short break for lunch. Not only that, but I technically started working on the problem yesterday, and worked on it for about 3 hours then.
Nevertheless, I am still striving towards my goal, and I know that no matter ehat, I'll be able to acheive whatever is set in my path.

UPDATE: I received my final Midterm, and I'm quite pleased to say I got an 85%, which was above average, and well within the range of expectations. Needless to say, I feel much better about myself.
-Eddie

Choosing a smart password

noreply@blogger.com (Eduardo Ruiz) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 02:32:00 +0000

Choosing a smart password: "Posted by Michael Santerre, Consumer Operations Associate

As part of National Cyber Security Awareness Month, we'd like to take this opportunity to remind you about smart password practices. Help ensure you're protecting your computer, website, and personal information by checking out our security series on the Google blog or visiting http://www.staysafeonline.org.

Phishing, a topic that's been in the news, is unfortunately a common way for hackers to trick you into sharing personal information like your account password. If you suspect you've been a victim of a phishing attack, we recommend you immediately change your password, update the security question and secondary address on your account, and make sure you're using a modern browser with anti-phishing protection turned on. Keep an eye out for the phishing warning Gmail adds to suspicious messages, and be sure to review these tips on how to avoid getting hooked.

Creating a new password is often one of the first recommendations you hear when trouble occurs. Even a great password can't keep you from being scammed, but setting one that's memorable for you and that's hard for others to guess is a smart security practice since weak passwords can be easily guessed. Below are a few common problems we've seen in the past and suggestions for making your passwords stronger.

Problem 1: Re-using passwords across websites
With a constantly growing list of services that require a password (email, online banking, social networking, and shopping websites — just to name a few), it's no wonder that many people simply use the same password across a variety of accounts. This is risky: if someone figures out your password for one service, that person could potentially gain access to your private email, address information, and even your money.

Solution 1: Use unique passwords
It's a good idea to use unique passwords for your accounts, expecially important accounts like email and online banking. When you create a password for a site, you might think of a phrase you associate with the site and use an abbreviation or variation of that phrase as your password — just don't use the actual words of the site. If it's a long phrase, you can take the first letter of each word. To make this word or phrase more secure, try making some letters uppercase, and swap out some letters with numbers or symbols. As an example, the phrase for your banking website could be "How much money do I have?" and the password could be "#m$d1H4ve?" (Note: since we're using them here, please don't adopt any of the example passwords in this post for yourself.)

Problem 2: Using common passwords or words found in the dictionary
Common passwords include simple words or phrases like 'password' or 'letmein,' keyboard patterns such as 'qwerty' or 'qazwsx,' or sequential patterns such as 'abcd1234.' Using a simple password or any word you can find in the dictionary makes it easier for a would-be hijacker to gain access to your personal information.

Solution 2: Use a password with a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols
There are only 26^8 possible permutations for an 8-character password that uses just lowercase letters, while there are 94^8 possible permutations for an 8-character password that uses a combination of mixed-case letters, numbers, and symbols. That's over 6 quadrillion more possible variations for a mixed password, which makes it that much harder for anyone to guess or crack.

Problem 3: Using passwords based on personal data
We all share information about ourselves with our friends and coworkers. The names of your spouse, children, or pets aren't usually all that secret, so it doesn't make sense to use them as your passwords. You should also stay away from birth dates, phone numbers, or addresses.

Solution 3: Create a password that's hard for others to guess
Choose a combination of letters, numbers, or symbols to create a unique password that's unrelated to your personal information. Or, select a random word or phrase, and insert letters and numbers into the beginning, middle, and end to make it extra difficult to guess (such as 'sPo0kyh@ll0w3En').

Problem 4: Writing down your password and storing it in an unsecured place
Some of us have enough online accounts that we may need to write our passwords down somewhere, at least until we've learned them well.

Solution 4: Keep your password reminders in a secret place that isn't easily visible
Don't leave notes with your passwords to various sites on your computer or desk. People who walk by can easily steal this information and use it to compromise your account. Also, if you decide to save your passwords in a file on your computer, create a unique name for the file so people don't know what's inside. Avoid naming the file 'my passwords' or something else obvious.

Problem 5: Recalling your password
When choosing smart passwords like these, it can often be more difficult to remember your password when you try to sign in to a site you haven't visited in a while. To get around this problem, many websites will offer you the option to either send a password-reset link to your email address or answer a security question.

Solution 5: Make sure your password recovery options are up-to-date and secure
You should always make sure you have an up-to-date email address on file for each account you have, so that if you need to send a password reset email it goes to the right place.

Many websites will ask you to choose a question to verify your identity if you ever forget your password. If you're able to create your own question, try to come up with a question that has an answer only you would know. The answer shouldn't be something that someone can guess by scanning information you've posted online in social networking profiles, blogs, and other places.

If you're asked to choose a question from a list of options, such as the city where you were born, you should be aware that these questions are likely to be less secure. Try to find a way to make your answer unique — you can do this by using some of the tips above, or by creating a convention where you always add a symbol after the 2nd character in the answer (e.g. in@dianapolis) — so that even if someone guesses the answer, they won't know how to enter it properly.

Blog Subscribers

noreply@blogger.com (Eduardo Ruiz) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 05:41:00 +0000

So, recently, I moved my Blog's feed into FeedBurner, mainly out of curiosity. However, I was checking things today, and to my surprise, I have a few people subscribed to my blog! I don't know how this came to happen, but I really appreciate those of you you read my random trivialities of whatever, even though what I say is random and sometimes even pointless. I do know that some of the subscriptions are from sitea that I have linked to read my blog to post to other places (like twitterfeed and facebook), but the number of people subscribed is more than the number of services out there. So if you're subscribed to my blog, leave a comment, and I'll appreciate it. Who know, maybe this will make me write better posts more often.

Physics (and other graduate things)

noreply@blogger.com (Eduardo Ruiz) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 02:45:00 +0000

This week, I'm doing orientation for the physics graduate program at the University of Michigan. A few things of interest:

1) Safety training is both boring and funny at the same time. A lot of the information is things that you HAVE to know, but so, so boring. At the same time, the pictures of things that happen when things go wrong are for some reason funny (like the tank full of some compressed gas that somehow broke free of it's holder and made a hole in the roof of the building).

2) I don't remember much simple physics anymore. One of the things I'm doing this week is taking GSI (Graduate Student Instructor) training, even though I'm not going to be a GSI (yay fellowships), and one of the things we had to do is "grade" an assignment. Yeah..., I don't remember simple angular momentum. Also, I can't grade homework. I'm too nice...

3) Physics Graduate Students are all wacky and crazy. I'm glad I'm not alone...

4) Having an office is cool, but at the same time, makes me feel old. However, I'll be in there for long periods of time, especially while doing homework.

5) Even though the summer program I was part of is over, I'm still seeing the friends I made over the summer through it. Makes me happy that we still find ways to get together.

6) Gyroscopes are AWESOME!! Yeah, I got to play with one.

7) Being a graduate student is going to be fun. Hard, but fun.

This week has got me looking forward to doing everything I'm going to do. I'm excited for my classes, even if they are though, and I'm really excited to do research. There'll be times when I wish I was doing something else (like a job and getting paid), but I think that the next 5-6 (hopefully) years will be some of the most memorable I'll have in my life. Graduate School, here I come!

BrazenCareerist.com

noreply@blogger.com (Eduardo Ruiz) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:57:00 +0000

Today I found out about a site that helps professionals from "the next generation" connect with each other and share ideas, brazencareerist.com. The site offers many tools for networking and sharing, and will even import facebook information and twitter updates. One can even import their blog and add that to their profile feed. People can join groups based in different categories, including professional and interest groups, and can share ideas with other members of the group. If there's a particular person that seems interesting, keeping up on that person's updates is easy: just become their fan, and all their updates will be posted on your "fan feed". In the words of co-founder Penelope Trunk:

"Starting today, we are calling Brazen Careerist the career management tool for next-generation professionals. In the online career space where experienced professionals win, we’ve created a network that will help young professionals level the playing field. Instead of just a traditional résumé, at the core of the new Brazen Careerist profile is an idea-based feed that showcases your knowledge, opinions and thoughts. In other words: Your potential. We all know there are pools of new talent coming into the market, but no career site showcases the most critical thing that talent should be sharing: Ideas."

The website promises to be very user-centric, with the idea that what the user has to say and what the user wants to see is most important. It's all about being part of a community that can help each other reach goals, give feedback, and above all, network with others.

When you least expect it…

noreply@blogger.com (Eduardo Ruiz) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 05:19:00 +0000

So, for the most part, life here in Ann Arbor has been going pretty smoothly. I’ve made a few friends, managed to learn how to get around the city, and pretty much settled down into the routine of summer classes.

However, suddenly, my roommate tells me he’s moving to another apartment. Since he was living here before I came, this means, of course, that suddenly, I have to get a ton of thing for the apartment, things I didn’t plan on getting initially. Suddenly, life grabs you by your neck and says “Don’t get comfortable, we’re just getting started!”

To make things worse, one of the dashboard lights in my car lit up, and according to the manual (yes, I actually read it) it’s some sort of engine emission thing. Now, according to Kristin, it usually means that the gas cap wasn’t closed all the way, which happened to be my problem, but the light is still on, and I’m hoping that I didn’t cause something worse.

With a few weeks left before classes start, most of my friends decided to go home for a few weeks, to spend a bit of time with friends and family. I’m not so lucky. Most everyone I know is in Ames, and they’re getting ready for classes starting next week, so visiting might not be the best idea at the time, although I might, I haven't fully decided yet. However, with the car issue, this seems less and less like a possibility, since I don’t want to be driving my car that distance with a potential engine failure. So this leaves me all alone here, waiting for my friends to come back, and basically just being here, doing nothing, except going out to buy things my apartment needs.

At the moment, the only major thing left for my is a dining table. However, I never knew how expensive these could be. For a 4-person table, everything I’ve seen is over $250. There is one exception: an extendable 4-6 person table for $170 at IKEA. The downside: it’s white. However, I’m pressed for money, so I think I don’t have much of a choice. And I can always put something on top to make it look nicer (tablecloth, placemats, etc.)

So, the whole thing from this is that, although life seems to be throwing everything it’s got towards me, I’m still persevering. I’ve still got a few weeks to get things to a manageable level, and I’ve still got IM and other forms of communication to talk to my friends. Hey, maybe I’ll actually try cooking something just to pass the time…

I love this Doctor

noreply@blogger.com (Eduardo Ruiz) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:20:00 +0000

Q: Doctor, I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true?

A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that's it... don't waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that's like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap.

Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables?

A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.

Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake?

A: No, not at all. Wine is made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine, that means they take the water out of the fruity bit so you get even more of the goodness that way. Beer is also made out of grain. Bottoms up!

Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?

A: Well, if you have a body and you have fat, your ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc.

Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program?

A: Can't think of a single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No Pain...Good!

Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you?

A: YOU'RE NOT LISTENING!!! ..... Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they're permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you?

Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?

A: Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.

Q: Is chocolate bad for me?

A: Are you crazy? HELLO Cocoa beans ! Another vegetable!!! It's the best feel-good food around!

Q: Is swimming good for your figure?

A: If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales to me.

Q: Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle?

A: Hey! 'Round' is a shape!

Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets.

And remember:

'Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming 'WOO HOO, What a Ride' AND.....

For those of you who watch what you eat, here's the final word on nutrition and health. It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies.

1. The Japanese eat very little fat

and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat

and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans..

3. The Chinese drink very little red wine

and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine

and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

5. The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

CONCLUSION

Eat and drink what you like.

Speaking English is apparently what kills you.

Friends

noreply@blogger.com (Eduardo Ruiz) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 07:30:00 +0000

So, what I've found when I go to a new place is that one of the biggest impression that stays with me when I leave is the friends I made when at that place. It doesn't matter if it's only for a year, or for a lifetime. When I changed schools my senior year, for example, the people I met there made me feel really welcome and accepted, and it really made what could have been a nightmare into a really memorable and fun experience.

More recently, going to Iowa State University meant not only changing the place I lived, but also living in a completely different culture than what I was used to. However, once again, the friends I made are some of the best friends I've ever had, because they made me feel like I belonged, and that I was someone in their lives that mattered.

However, until today, it didn't really dawn on me how much making friends means to me. Growing up, I went to school at Roosevelt Roads Naval Station (currently closed). Because I was the son of civilians who worked for the Navy, I stayed in the same school (until they closed the base my Junior year of high school). However, most of the people I went to school with were military kids, meaning they usually left every three years. This, and the fact that I was a kinda shy person and not really that good with people (me in middle/high school = definitely not popular) meant that I really didn't have many friends. Sure, I hung out with lots of people, mainly gamers (from Pokemon to Age of Empires), but I never had a friend who I could share moments with, a person who I could connect with at a deeper level. And sure, I had my family, but being exposed to an American culture separated us from truly becoming close, whereas my parents, well, they're my parents. In fact, I'm pretty sure the best friend I had while growing up was my sister. However, in a way, that didn't feel like what I wanted, or like it was cheating in a sense. It wasn't someone I could share things with at a deeper level.

In a way, this is something I've always craved. One of my biggest fears when I went to Iowa State was not being able to make true friends, people I could talk about problems I was having at the time, or to confide secrets to, while also being able to have a good time. This fear is what drove me to join the Social Team at St. Thomas Catholic Church, and to go to retreats: places where I knew I would at least meet a lot of people, raising the chances of meeting people who I could connect with at a deeper level than just "hanging out".

It is sort of ironic, then, that the way I met my girlfriend was not through my over-involvement of extracurricular activities, but rather through a mutual friend. With Kristin, I've been able to find someone who I can connect with at a much deeper level than I've ever been able to do so before. In a way, it's kind of intoxicating.

However, at the same time, I know that having that sort of connection with only one person can be smothering to both parties. Thus, I'm glad that I was able to make such really great friends that I did at Iowa State. I might not connect with them at the level I connect with Kristin, but it's still more of a friendship than I got from all my years in high school.

Now, at a completely different University in a different state, I again came to face with my fear of being alone, with no friends to be able to confide things with. The first week here, although busy, was also one filled with self-doubt and fear. Would I be able to make friends again at the level I did with my friends at Iowa State? However, I've met many people in the past few weeks, and from all those people, a few have surfaced that seem to be going in the direction of the type of friend that I always seem to long for. I just hope that this does, in fact, turn out to be the case.

So anyway, I want to say thank you to all my friends who've been there with me through good and bad times. I want to thank Kristin for loving me so much and putting up with my incessant annoyances. And I want to thank my new friends at University of Michigan for giving me the opportunity to build a relationship beyond that of just hanging out (even if that is so far more or less what we've done, but the potential is there, and that's what I thank you for. It is still pretty early on). Hopefully, once the summer is over, and we go on to our respective fields of study to slave away as indentured servants of academia (just kidding), we can still find the time to get together and share with each other. And to everyone who has been there for me, or will be there for me in the future, know that, if you need it, I will be there for you as well.

The Installation of Operating Systems

noreply@blogger.com (Eduardo Ruiz) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:13:00 +0000

So, this weekend, I decided to reinstall Ubuntu on my desktop, which is actually not that impressive of a feat, considering a) how many times I’ve done it before and b) the fact that the Ubuntu installer is very straightforward and easy to understand (at least for a techy like me).

Well, the whole process took about a day (in this case, Friday), and by the time I was done, it was about 3am the next day. However, I must say, I’m quite proud of myself. There were certain issues that popped up, but all in all, this is the best I’ve ever done with an installation of Ubuntu. At the moment, there’s only one issue with the operating system, which, considering that previously, I’ve had somewhere between 6 – 20 separate issues, is not bad at all.

Right now, the only issue I have is the fact that for some reason (and this is a known bug in the Ubuntu Forums), whenever I start Gizmo5, I cannot use any other sound (no music, youtube, system sounds, anything). In addition, if I use one of these other programs, Gizmo does not work. This is somewhat frustrating, since this means I can’t use Gizmo to get incoming calls when listening to music (for those who don’t know, Gizmo is an open source program similar to Skype, but it has free incoming calls and integrates quite nicely with Google Voice).

Well, I was so proud of myself for this accomplishment, that I decided it was time to reinstall Windows XP on my laptop. My laptop had been kinda bogged down from 4 years of use, and a reinstall seemed to be in order for it. So, the next day, I started with the (considerably more arduous) task of reinstalling XP.

First off, the whole thing took about a day and a half. It wasn’t that hard, but having to get 4+ years of updates, including a service pack, takes a really long time (to be precise, it took me 2.5 hours to get all the updates). Afterwards, I had to install all the programs, which is a very tedious task, since I had to look for them online, download, install, and repeat. At least with Ubuntu, I could check some boxes, and it would download and install all of them in one go.

However, eventually, I more or less got my computer to the point where it was before, with one major difference: it now loads REALLY QUICKLY!!! Where before my laptop would load in about 5 minutes total, it now takes about 2, which is a huge improvement in speed. This is, of course, taking into account all the startup programs I have, which do slow down the startup process.

Anyway, right now, I have to see if I can fix the Gizmo issue on Ubuntu, and set up my new wireless-N router that I got from woot.com. But, all in all, it was a productive computer-fiddling weekend.

My Google Voice number

noreply@blogger.com (Eduardo Ruiz) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 02:39:00 +0000

Today, I finally got a Google Voice number. I've been waiting for some time for the invite, so I got the first number that I was able to find that I remotely liked. Unfortunately, the choices were fairly limited. Fortunately, I got a number I'm satisfied with.

However, after changing some settings and doing some general THINKING, I came to realise that a Google Voice number would actually not be that good of a thing right now for me. First off, I'll actually use minutes to call other Verizon numbers. Also, they'll use minutes as well. Therefore, I'll hold off with major use of my Google Voice number for another year, until I get a new plan. I'm probably going to get a Family and Friends plan from Verizon, so, I'll just add my Google Voice Number to that, and predent it's not a Verizon phone. That way, I still get free calls. However, others will not, but that's more or less fine with me, because I don't call people very often, and that is why they have minutes in the first place.

The one nice feature right now of Google Voice that I plan to use a lot is the infinite text messaging. I only have 250 messages a month on my cell phone, but with Google Voice, I have infinite. Also, since I disabled forwarding text messages to my cell phone, I only receive them online. Since I'll have easy access to Wifi for pretty much the whole 5-6 years I'll be at Michigan, it should be easy to check my text messages. So if you want to send me a text message, unless it's extremly urgent, send it to my Google Voice number (if it's urgent, it might be better to send it to my phone directly). The number is listed on my Facebook profile, as "other."

Official Google Blog: Introducing the Google Chrome OS

noreply@blogger.com (Eduardo Ruiz) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 05:55:00 +0000

In a move that directly threatens Microsoft's home turl, Google announced late Tuesday night of a new product: Google Chrome OS. According to the official Google blog,

"We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work."

This seems like a good time for Google updates. With Google Wave introduced a while back, the Google Apps products recently coming out of Beta, and the (arguable) success of the Google Chrome web browser, Google's OS is in perfect position to have a strong entry into the world of PC's.

Official Google Blog: Introducing the Google Chrome OS

Life in Michigan (and the horrors of buying my car)

noreply@blogger.com (Eduardo Ruiz) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:56:00 +0000

Well, I've lived in Michigan for about 2.4 weeks now, and I'm finally feeling settled in. These last two weeks have been the most hectic and boring of this year. Moving in, first off, was extremely chaotic, even with the help of my parents, kristin, and her dad. I was buying a lot of new thing, including (but not limited to) a bed, a desk, lamps, desk chair, book cases, etc...

Of course, the biggest purchase we made in the last two weeks (and the most hectic), was a car. First, my parents and I (Kristin and her dad were gone by this point) went around different dealers, comparing prices and features. Eventually, after about 2 hours, I settled on (and they agreed to pay for) a 2010 Titanium Kia Soul +, also known as the hamster car (because of the commercial with the hamsters...). That's when things got complicated. Apparently, and I have no idea why, I needed to have a Michigan Driver's License or State ID to buy a car in Michigan. Ok, no problem, I'll just go to the Secretary of State office and get a State ID. Not so easy...

To get a State ID or Driver's License in the State of Michigan, I needed to prove I lived in Michigan, by showing not one, but two proofs of recidency. Well, I had just moved in, so I had no mail. The only thing I had was the contract for the apartment I was renting...

By this point, needless to say, my parents and I were very frustrated. We decided to wait and see if I would get a piece of mail (one of the guys at the dealership actually sent me a letter, but we didn't know if I would get it on time...). In the meantime, we went around Ann Arbor, trying to finish other important things, like getting my M-card (Student ID for the University of Michigan) and opening a bank account. At the bank, however, we were able to get a letter from the teller which basically "proved" my recidency.

We then went to the Secretary of State Office, about 1 hour before they closed, with a huge line. However, I just wanted to get this over with, so I stayed. I filled out the form for a State ID, and then the person at the counter tells me I need to get a Driver's Licence, since applying for a State ID will (somehow) cancel my Puerto Rico Driver's License. Of course, this might mean I need to take the written driver's test. Not having driven much for the past 4 years, I wasn't sure how well I'd do, but I quickly leafed through a study book, and most of the things seemed like common sense. After I was more or less ready to take the test, the person comes back and tells me (to my relief and mild irritation) that I didn't have to take the test. They took my picture, and told me my ID would arrive in the mail in about a week (which it did, although I'm not entirely sure why they couldn't just give it to me then and there.)

Anyway, by this point, everyone was tired, but I felt like I had just accomplished a major thing. The next day, we went back to the dealer, and got the car (Finally!).

Well, my parents went back home, and I got ready for the Rackham Summer Institute (SI). The orientation was fun and informative (although the taxes protion confused the crap out of me), and I met a lot of new people, including everyone who will be in my class over the summer (Mathematical and Research Skills for Engineering and the Physical Sciences). Now I'm getting ready for the class (which starts tomorrow), and things have since calmed down a bit (sometimes a bit too much, it can get really boring sometimes...) Hopefully, this will be the beginning to a great time in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan.

Final weeks at ISU

noreply@blogger.com (Eduardo Ruiz) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 20:34:00 +0000

For those who don't know, I'm going to be graduating in a few weeks. I'm really excited, but at the same time, sad. These have been some of the best years of my life. I'm going to miss everything when I leave. All my friends are going to still be here, with a few graduating, and I'm going to go to Michigan.

When I started college, one of my biggest fears what that I wasn't going to meet anyone, and that I'd be along for the entire time. Looking back, I see that those fears were unfounded. I've made many friends these past four year, some who I can honestly say have been the best friends I've ever had. I meant the girl of my dreams, who one day I'll probably marry. I grew in ways I did not event think were possible.

I think if I were to meet myself 4 years ago, that me would be surprised at how I'd changed. I would not change anything that happened, even the bad, because from that, I learned and become a better person.

So, in these last 2-3 weeks at ISU, I reflect on my time hear, content with what I accomplished, and looking forward to the next phase in my life. Thank you, everyone who influenced me into becoming the person I am now. Thanks for all the memories, the laughs, cries, anger, and random happenings.

I will miss you all.

Vermont

noreply@blogger.com (Eduardo Ruiz) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:20:00 +0000

I'm really not sure what to say here. On one hand, I'm not against gay
people. On the other hand, I do believe marriage is a sacred
sacrament, of which the main purpose is for man and a woman to create
a family and have children, something which a gay couple cannot do.
And yet, in less than 4 days, 2 states have legalized gay marriages.
I'll have to mull this over, but I like the way Kristin put it:
marriage according to the state and marriage according to the church
are two different things. If that's the case, then we might need a new
word for state marriages. Kristin suggested "unions", which seems to
fit.

Eduardo J. Ruiz

University of Michigan

noreply@blogger.com (Eduardo Ruiz) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 02:32:00 +0000

Well, after many long days and nights of searching, I've finally made a choice for the university I'm going to for Graduate School: University of Michgan. They have a really good physics program, and they will help me at every step of the way.

One of the really cool things it thatt they gave me a really nice fellowship. Accoring to the email I received, "Your award for the first year will consist of a stipend equal to 50% Graduate Student Research Assistant/GSRA for the fall and winter terms, full tuition, and GradCare health and dental insurance. The award also provides one spring/summer stipend of $8500." Basically, I'll be getting full tuition, and a $2000-per-month stipend, plus the other stuff. Now that's a sweet deal.

I'm getting really excited about going to Michigan. It's kinda funny to think this was one of the last schools I decided to apply to, and now they're giving me such a sweet deal. Kinda like when I came to Iowa State...

And on top of that, my parents told me they would get me a car. Possibly new. Actually, most likely new. I'll have to be happy with what in the lot when we go visit, but hey, it's a new car. That's really cool.

The one thing that's kinda worrying is that I'll have to leave Kristin behind for a while. Hopefully, she'll be able to follow me, and afterwards, who knows where we'll end up. We've been talking, and there's a few options, so we'll see...

Life, the Universe, and Everything

noreply@blogger.com (Eduardo Ruiz) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 04:14:00 +0000

Well, recently, I started using this program thing called Twitter, which is some sort of microblog thing that allows you to post updates of your life in 140 character posts. It's kinda like a miniblog, except that one basically answers the question: What are you doing now? I kinda like it, although I'm not following very many people yet. However, it's a pretty good way for people to know what's going on in my (usually boring) life.

Last week (or the week before, I can't remember very well), there was a crash. IN SPACE! Now, I don't know what the odds are, but for two satelites to crash seems very unlikely, so that fact that it did happen was pretty big. Anyway, this has caused a NASA and other space groups to really start considering the problem of space junk a lot more. This has made NASA's space shuttle be delayed yet again, so this is a pretty big issue. Come on, people, we have to keep the universe clean.

Everything else seems kinda pale in comparison, although the Pirate Bay has made pretty interesting headlines in the past week. Oh, and I got a shirt from shirt.woot again. This one was the one that had a picture of an atom made of dice. Yeah, I'm definately a nerd...

Life Directions

noreply@blogger.com (Eduardo Ruiz) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 04:30:00 +0000

I'm not entirely sure why, but reviewing one's life goals seems to be quite popula these days. Many of my friends recently changed their major, or, in some cases, decided that they wanted to pursue a religious life.

Well, with graduation coming up, I've been thinking more and more about my future, and I've been asking myself some pretty tough questions. For example: what do I see myself doing in 10 years? Do I really want to be doing Theoretical Physics for the rest of my life? Is there something else I'd really like to do in my life?

Well, I've been giving thought to some different paths I could take once I have my PhD in Physics, and was thinking about industry (also known as the private sector). Talking this over with my mom, she mentioned that one of her college friends' husband was a physics graduate who now works in Research and Devolpement at Intel.

I'm not sure what, but something about working for Intel (or a similar company) just seems pretty awesome. I plan to still get my PhD, but I'm not going to limit my career choices to academia. We'll see what I'm doing in 10 years.

That feeling of blah...

noreply@blogger.com (Eduardo Ruiz) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 06:06:00 +0000

For some time now, I've just had this feeling of... well... blah. You know, the feeling where I just don't really want to do anything, and just have a few days where I could sleep in the entire day. Yeah, one of those feelings. I still go to all my classes and things, and still go to work, but I sometimes just don't care...

The thing that's scaring me a bit about this time is that it's lasted for a quite a while now. I'd say I've been in this mood for about 3 weeks now. Usually, I get it every few months, and it lasts about a week.

I don't know what's changed. Maybe it's because this is my last semester at Iowa State, and I'm scared of what lies ahead. Or maybe it's something that happens when you grow older. Either way, I hope that it leaves soon, because I'm starting to notice it's affecting a few things. I missed a homework assignment for Philosophy (fortunately, the lowest 2 are dropped), and haven't read anything for some of my other classes.

I think this weekend will be good to me, though. I'm going on a retreat. Hopefully, that will help with this mood.

Eddie the Golden Phoenix

KQ Team

noreply@blogger.com (Eduardo Ruiz) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 08:36:00 +0000

Well, it's been a while.

Well, the KQ team is forming slowly. I'm just trying to organize things and trying to get people to join. At the moment, we don't have very many people (around 12), but I'm hoping that number will pick up soon. I just made a facebook group, and I asked people to ask people, so we might get a few that way. Maybe...

I also made a website with some info. Right now, it just has the list of member, but it might become our page for the questions too...

Anyway, that's all for now. I'm off.

The Golden Phoenix

Computer Upgrade

noreply@blogger.com (Eduardo Ruiz) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 05:47:00 +0000

Well, I added a PCI card to my computer. Now I have 4 more USB ports (plus two on the inside, which I figure I can use for some wireless things, but really confused me other than that). The upgrade was slightly hiccupy, but ended well. Now I don't have a huge mess of wires on top of each other in a small amount of space because of many USB cables and not enough ports. I can now use my USB splitter for it's original purpose: my laptop. Yay!

The Golden Phoenix

Windows 7: the Good and the Bad

noreply@blogger.com (Eduardo Ruiz) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:50:00 +0000

Well, like any computer nerd, I like beta testing. Well, since the new Windows 7 Beta came out recently, I decided to give it a spin. However, I didn't want to just install a new system (at least, not without knowing that it wouldn't completely destroy my computer). So, to circumvent this, I decided to install it inside a virtual machine (a virtual "computer" within an operating system).

The Good: I like a lot of the new features. The new taskbar is pretty cool, and I like the fact that we can make slideshow backgrounds (something which Mac has been able to do for a while). I also like that it seems a lot easier to mess with different settings to change, for example, UAC settings, backgrounds, and other random things that need changing. In addition, Microsoft made it easy to start off by placing a "Getting Started" link on the start menu, which gives you access to some of the more common features. It is also very easy to set up Gadgets, and there is no sidebar (I didn't like the sidebar).

The Bad: Not counting the limitations brought on by it being installed in a Virual Machine (which is more of Virtual Box's fault that Windows 7), there were a few things which could be inproved. First of all, the area at the right of the taskbar (who's name currently eludes me) hasn't changed at all. It seems akward that the icons on the taskbar are all bigger except for these. I think Microsoft should give a choice as to how people want these to look. Also, I was hoping Microsoft would add some virtual desktop support, since that has become standard in every other operating system I've used and/or seen.

The Meh: Paint and Wordpad now use the Ribbon setup made infamous by Microsoft Office 2007. It's something to get used to, I guess. Since I don't really use Paint or Wordpad (I use Paint.net and Notepad++ instead), it doesn't really affect me. It's just something I thoght people should know (if they still didn't).

My plan for the near future is to actually install it on my computer, not just the virtual machine, to get the most out of Windows 7. However, from first impressions, I have to say it is pretty good.

The Golden Phoenix