Freescale

It's been almost 11 weeks since I was last in Tallahassee, but luckily there is only a week and a half until I am back again... Every day seems that much longer, and that much harder to get through... I don't remember the last time I was as homesick as I am now. I like Austin, but I guess I just never let myself completely settle down to make it feel like home. I miss my dog, my bed, my kitchen, my parking spot, my alarm clock, (you get the point by now)... Most importantly though, I miss my girlfriend Amanda! I'm just glad she has stuck with me even though we are 900 miles apart!

I am proud of what I accomplished for Freescale this Summer. Once again impressing myself... I can definitely see the my programming skill improving (at least in Visual Basic) which is a good thing... I like working on projects that I can see the results... I like knowing that it is making somebody's day go by with less obstacles... I hope when I graduate, and find a job, that I get the same enjoyment out of it... It'd be nice if I could feel this way about Graduate School as well, but it just feels so pointless because on-the-job experience seems much more valuable... We'll see.

My cousin April is having another baby! I am so excited, and I think it helps contribute to my longing for home (because she too is from Tallahassee)... She sent a great picture out to let the family know... The picture to the right is her daughter (my God-daughter!) I love her more then can be described...

Labels: amanda vichich, april pinner, ashlyn pinner, austin texas, family, freescale

Today is my last day here at Freescale, at least for the Summer... I am hoping that I can be hired as a contract employee and work from Tallahassee whenever they have issues with the Excel tools that I created... Otherwise, I may be earning less then I am spending, which could be a major problem in the long run...

I am excited about heading back to Tallahassee Monday! I have to complete clean/redecorate the entire townhouse on the Nug... I also am excited about the classes I plan on taking for Fall... I want to take the following:

• Advanced Unix Programming
• Pattern Recognition
• Distributed Application Development
• Intro to Research (blah)

I am excited about the first three though... they all fit my interests perfectly... I hope I can get into Dist Apps though because it currently says it is full, but I think if I complain, I will be able to get into it... because I really, REALLY, want too...

Advanced Unix Programming is with a professor I had Distributed Networks with... It wasn't an easy class, but I like how he challenges me, unlike many of my previous professors... Also, Pattern Rec.'s professor is extremely smart... I had him as a professor for Intro to Intelligent Systems last semester... His programming assignments are a ton of fun and his tests are challenging, but do-able if you pay close attention and take good notes...

Anyways, I also can't wait to get back and start using my new kitchen supplies... I have all these things I want to make... yummy...

I miss my CS friends, Tatiana, and most importantly, my God daughter Ashlyn... I miss her so much it is annoying...

Labels: ashlyn pinner, freescale, grad school, nugget lane, tatiana treffehn

I decided Sam's club is a beautiful thing... of course, I still wouldn't pay for a subscription there because when you shop there you don't need anything for another whole year afterwards, and by that time you have to pay the subscription price again... I went there today with my aunt Tina and I bought everything I will ever need...

16 bars of soap, 32 rolls of toilet paper (which will last me forever now that I don't live with 2 girls), 16 rolls of paper towels, 4 tubes of toothpaste, 2 gallons of ketchup (Heinz of course), 2 liters of mustard (French's... Despite my dislike of the French, it is "America's favorite mustard"), 2 buckets of reduced fat JIF, and 16 razor blades for my Mach3 Turbo Advanced Super Vibrating Godly razor... ($32 for 16 blades, which would usually cost $48+) 4 things of my Hershy's chocolate (to satisfy my chocolate milk addiction)... a 24 piece Gladware set (many different sizes)... a huge thing of dish washing soup, and 150 trash bags, a over sized tub of chicken seasoning, and 2 backing sheets... all this stuff would have easily cost me $300+ at Publix and I spend $156.82...

The only problem I had was that I couldn't put it on my American Express... but I guess I'll live...

At work today there were presentations done by interns to tell others what they did while working there over the Summer... I was the third to go so I was pretty nervous... third to go out of 90 interns... only about 20 went today, but it was the first day, and I was the third person... at least I got it over with by 9:15, but then I had to sit and watch alllll the other ones until past 3:00... oh well, some were interesting... but others were so technical that nobody understood anything they were saying...

Labels: amex, freescale, ketchup, publix, tina folts

My manager here at Freescale was nice enough to suggest to Human Resources that I am somebody they must hire next Summer... even if it isn't for him... That made me feel good about the work I did here... theoretically I saved him about 8 hours of his time a week by automating most of the Excel files he uses... Well, he is worried that when his needs change, he won't have a tool that would suit his needs anymore... So, he is trying to get me hired as a contract employee where I could work, when necessary from Tallahassee... I just hope "when necessary" is at least 5-10 hours a month so that I can make just a little more money then I will be spending... That way I wouldn't tap into all the money I saved over the summer, like I had planned...

Once I see how much I'll be working (if this all works out), then I can buy the projector I want for my living room... which I have been about to buy for 3 months now, but every time I do, I think of how I need to save the money I am making or I won't make it all the way through Grad School...

Anyways, I cancelled the order of the 8 piece KitchenAid pot set... only to order a 10 piece instead... it cost me $25 less because there is a new promotion at Amazon that if you spend $125 in Kitchen supplies, you get $25 off instantly... and this is on top of another deal where you get $20 gift card in 4-8 weeks from now if you spend more then $100 on pots and pans... and on top of this, it was already nearly 60% off... so, in the end, I got a $380 pot set for $105... not bad if you ask me... of course, since I was saving $25 I decide to buy a little more... so I bought a 8 person silverware set... and another set of kitchen utensils (peeler, can opener, etc...) by KitchenAid because it too was on sale, and I need it... I am sick of the crappy kitchen supplies I have... I can't wait to get to Tallahassee and start cooking up some goodness... I think I am going to buy some cookbooks, or at least download some recipes from online... if you have any good (and for now, easy) ones you'd like to share, leave them as a comment on this post! I'll appreciate it!

Labels: amazon, excel, freescale, grad school, tallahassee

I was told by my boss today that I possess "the skills, knowledge, motivation, and ethics" that make me a perfect fit for Freescale... Pretty nice... I didn't think I would have another internship opportunity next summer because I have finished everything he needed done, but it turns out that he thinks he will need somebody next summer for something similar, yet different... So he hopes he can pull me away from summer classes at FSU so that I can do that, and if he ends up not needing me he said he is going to put in a good word for other departments so that I could still get hired... The exciting thing is that now that I have this internship under my belt, as well as I would be half way done with my Masters degree, my starting salary should be closer to $65-70,000/year ($33/hour... $264/day... $1320/week)... and I'll have nobody to spend it on except for me! They explained how they decide the pay rate by plugging in your credentials and it spits back a number after assessing you... They explained how it assesses you by how much school and how many internships you have had... woot woot... and so if I decide not to stay at Freescale, which I would rather not in the long run, but still, if I don't stay here then I could still say that I made $70,000ish at my last job so I would be making tons when I got out of school... I think I am going to apply for internships at other companies next summer as well... maybe diversity would be better, it doesn't matter where your internships were according to Freescale, but I would think other companies might think otherwise... If I could find an internship at a video game company I would scream... yeah... oh well...

Megan comes to Austin on Wednesday... I am excited to see her... I am going to take off most Thursday and all of Friday so I can chill with her...

I miss my fellow CSers... can't wait to get back to Tallahassee, move into my house, buy a dog, and start programming... I still want to program after programming the whole summer, which is a good sign that I am on the right career path... Oh well...

Labels: austin texas, best friend, freescale, tallahassee, work

Well, I had the weirdest dream last night... it was a Kindergarten-9th grade reunion... everyone from that time in my life was there... yet, not a single person from 10th grade on... which was really weird... I actually had two girls get in a fist fight over me... who? my first girlfriend Deanna Tobin who I dated from Kindergarten all the way to the middle of 6th grade (I know this doesn't really count, but she was my first kiss) anyways, the other girl was Kathy Zischka... my first love... I dated her in the middle of 9th grade in Germany... Anyways... I know for sure it was a dream because they both flirted constantly with me and Kathy even started to cry... when I asked her why it was because I had left her, but now she was engaged to some guy, despite the fact that she really loved me... he he... shut up you guys, I know what you are thinking, I know I am pathetic...

My point is, having the dream made me regret not keeping in touch with old friends... luckily I found out that Mike Treffehn, my best friend from Germany, is trying to visit me in Tallahassee during the Fall... but yeah... I started writing to all my old friends in Germany, and I also went on Facebook and added a whole bunch of people from my elementary school... I also missed Germany itself, so I spent the day trying to plan the trip my younger sister insists we are taking this winter... but prices are WAY to high... which frustrates me... even for somebody as rich as I am... if I knew if I had the lab monitoring job next semester, then I would know more if I could afford it... otherwise with just the TA job I will be making just enough to pay morgage (I am joining ownership of the townhouse with my parents... at least $375/month), car ($400/month), health/car insurance (around $200/month)... food ($150/month) and the books/random expensive ($100/month) If I had that security of that second job it would make my life a lot more relaxed and fun so I could blow money on a awesome ski trip to Europe... And maybe even see some of my old friend from Germany...

I miss Europe... I am thinking about moving there after grad school... Freescale (the place I work now) has a branch there and since I might be able to keep my job, and could do it from anywhere... I think there would be great... America sucks he he... well, at least Florida and Texas... too damn hot... Florida is even worse though... even though it is averaging 98 here this week, the humidity is non-existent... I also found out today that Sebastian's post-cancer problems are coming back... right when he is moving into the dorms no less... which is pretty scary because, if I know him, (which I probably do as much as anyone does), he is not going to be motivated to take his medicines daily... or go see the doctor... etc... another thing that frustrates me...

I have been trying to get a hold of my god daughter Ashlyn since I got here, and every time I call they don't answer, so finally they call me and I missed it because I was busy, but Ashlyn left me a message and it made me so happy that I am not going to delete it all summer so even though I can never actually talk to her, at least I can hear her and know that she hasn't forgotten me... 4 months is a long time when you are her age...

Labels: ashlyn pinner, deanna tobin, facebook, freescale, germany, kathy zischka, megan folts, mike treffehn, sebastian amunategui, tallahassee, work

I spent the morning washing my car... man it is sexy... I got tinted windows yesterday that keeps 58% of the heat out... I read the first chapter of Harry Potter and there is so much that I seemed to have missed the first time I read it because I had no clue what was going to happen in the future... small things, but they are interesting... The first week of work was pretty long and made me realllllllly tired waking up early like that every morning... I am really excited about what I am going to learn though... I get to automate Excel projects to make things that take 30 minutes take 30 seconds instead... of course, I made the mistake of finishing the first one so quick that they are going to expect a ton of me when I still have almost everything to learn... oh well... we'll see how it goes... it is going to be really nice getting memorial day off and still being paid for it... the same with 4th of July... on top of getting those paid for, I get 14.67 hours a month off for anything I want... all this free money is pretty nice... B) Oh well, back to work tomorrow for another full week...

Labels: car, excel, freescale, harry potter, work

I just got through my first day of work, of course it was only orientation, but it was 7 hours of orientation... There was this girl that I swore I had dated before, and the odd thing was that she had the same first name as her too... Well, after talking to her I am sure it is not the same girl because she never lived in Germany and is a year and a half younger, but it has to be her identical younger twin...

I still don't know exactly what I will be doing, I find that out tomorrow, this was just the general stuff about the company, filling out paper work, etc. <yawn> oh well, I got paid $224 for it... not bad at all... that is a lot to make in a day B) every day B)I realized today that the internship is 2 weeks longer than I thought so that is another $2240 I'll make... woo hoo... I need to get my car windows tinted, and maybe buy a new computer... I make enough in a week to do both, it is really hard to find ways to spend the money... I am saving most of it though... I got my first American Express... it will double my warranties on things and all that goodness... Instead of paying rent to my parents when I get back to Florida, I am going to join their mortgage payment and pay 1/3 of it so that when they sell it I will get 1/3 of it... my first real estate purchase if it all works out... we'll see... well, this morning when I woke up I pulled the pulley on the light to turn it on and the whole dome thingy fell off the fan and shattered on the floor... I thought that that was a perfect start to my day... Well, we'll see how tomorrow goes... I hope I can actually do what they need me to do...

Labels: austin texas, freescale, work

It looks like I have no choice but to move to Texas this summer... I wanted to go to South Florida to be with my people... Maybe my people will visit me in Texas... This internship is offering me $28 an hour for 12 weeks... $11200... That is more then I have ever earned in a year of work anywhere... I have mixed feelings about it... but I know my job in South Florida can't match that... I have never heard of an intern being paid that much... if I worked there forever it would be $56,000 a year... awesome... I am going to miss people though... but at least then if I don't get into the gaming schools, I can move to Orlando and live there with that money... I am really scared about life though... The company use to be owned by Motorola but recently spun off and so it is world wide and huge huge huge... I was told that I am going to get sucked into the company and never be able to leave because they will make offers that I cannot pass up... I just hope I like what they are having me do... I didn't mention above, but I also get medical and dental insurance...

Anyways, last night I was REALLY dizzy... for like 5 hours... so finally I just went to bed thinking I would be fine when I woke up... but I wasn't... I have never had problems like this, so it kinda freaked me out... I decided I'd go see the doctor since it was really bad... they gave me some medicine to stop dizziness and said if that doesn't help (since it could be anything from a virus to a brain tumor) that I need to come back in a few days... oh well, my show is on now so I have to go...

Labels: austin texas, freescale

Well, in about 3 hours I have an interview with Freescale, a company that use to be part of Motorola... My uncle works there and told me about an summer internship that I might want... So, I thought why the hell not, and I am going to try... They pay for relocation even... I don't know how much they plan on paying me yet, but if it helps pay for grad school, then yippee... I also applied to be a video game tester in Orlando for $8... that is with EA... that would be sweeeeeeeeeet... I get my foot into the video game industry... which is cool...

If I live here the whole summer then I could start looking for houses in Dallas in case I get accepted to SMU... I am kinda scared to move so far away, but the truth is I really have no reason not to... all I have to think about is myself, which is weird... I am really excited about the thought of it, even though I am scared too... I need to feel like I am at a different stage in my life, because I will be... I don't want to be stuck in the same lonely routine in Tallahassee...

I hope they think I am good enough to get into these gaming schools... I would work like crazy once I got in, the problem is getting in... at least everyone at SMU will remember me because they freaking announced that I drove all the way from Florida during the main presentation by the Director of the school... embarrassing... but oh well... I feel more qualified than the other people there sounded... none of them seemed to know anything about programming... they were all scared about having to program... and I was really really excited about it... Even if I didn't go into video games after graduating, I would be a SUPER DUPER programmer and be able to apply to other places as well... They would teach me a whole bunch of very useful things...

Next week, after my Algorithm's test, I am going to start programming like crazy and finish up my portfolio...

Guess what! I got a 104 on my first intellegent systems test... so now we are done with 50% of the course and I have like a 99.999999... which is sweet... I only need like 40%'s on the rest of the course work to pass... that is a fun class...

OH well, I have to start getting ready for the interview... so yeah... bye

Labels: electronic arts, freescale, gaming, grad school, kelly folts, tallahassee, undergrad, work