I graduated from Caltech in 2001. Since then I have been working at Fulcrum Microsystems. I've done a variety of things in my job, but a lot of it has been related to writing test software and testing chips in the lab. My major at Caltech was Engineering and Applied Science, which is what Computer Science is classified under at Caltech. While at 'tech, I was a member of Lloyd House, one of the 7 undergraduate houses on campus. Although I'm out of school now, I still want to take some classes in things I'm particularly interested in: languages (human, not computer) and analog electronics, for example.
The rest of this page describes my main interests. In addition to the information on this page, you can also find out:
I don't like to fill my pages with graphics, but I do have an Online Photo Album.
Here are a few of my past projects:
My major is Computer Science. I've enjoyed computers ever since I was introduced to them in 3rd grade (on an Apple IIc). Actually, I'm not sure that's strictly true. I have a vague memory of having a lot of difficulty using the graphics commands we were supposed to learn. I think we were supposed to use some line drawing and pixel plotting functions (in Apple BASIC, whatever those were) to create characters like Pac-Man on the screen. I think I may have ended up with a blob instead.
In any case, I had more success in about 5th grade when I started using Logo on a Commodore 64 and BASIC on a TRS-80. Fortunately, I was introduced to a much more powerful language, C, in 8th grade. In high school (Churchill High School) I worked in the computer lab as a student technician on the school's Netware-based network. So by the time I got to college, I had quite a bit of experience with computers, but I had not had a formal class on CS, so my first Caltech CS class, CS 2, taught me a lot about what are the right and wrong ways of approaching problems. (Strictly, CS/EE 4 was probably my first CS class, but it's really more EE-ish.) Now I can look back at programs I wrote in High School and say "Wow, that was sure a painful way to do things." :)
In high school, I also started learning 80x86 assembly language. I began playing with protected mode programming, and decided that the thing to do would be to write an operating system. This wasn't necessarily an acheivable goal, but I didn't care too much for Windows, and DOS clearly had some problems, so I figured, why not try to make something better? Thus began Minimum Operating Environment. Right before I got to college I was introduced to Linux, and with help from someone with more clue than myself, I installed it first term. Linux is cool enough that it left me with no more reasons to work on MOE. Oh well, it was a fun project while it lasted and gave me some understanding of protected mode and talking directly to hardware, so it was worthwhile.
I don't remember giving much thought to learning another language until my sister started taking Spanish in Middle School. Hearing her say things in Spanish made me interested, and she taught me to say something like "Yo aprendo español con mi hermana." ("I learn Spanish with my sister," although I think maybe it should have had an "hablar" in there to make it "I learn to speak Spanish with my sister.") So in High School I started taking Spanish, and took it for 3 years. I started getting interested in other languages as well, and learned an odd (and quite small) collection of phrases in Japanese, Chinese, and French, of which examples follow:
At Tech, I didn't take a language class for 2 years, since I wanted to get some other classes out of the way first. Sophomore year, I started learning Chinese from books and tapes, and I have worked on that off and on since then. I started taking Japanese first term Junior year, but after that term I left 'Tech for a year so that interrupted my study of Japanese. I've taken several Chinese classes at Lane Community College, UCLA, and Caltech. I am currently making a slow start at learning Vietnamese from the Pimsleur CDs. Eventually, I would like to speak Vietnamese, Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, and perhaps French in addition to (of course) English.
In addition to the particular languages I'm interested in, I think language is interesting in the abstract. I really enjoyed the book The Language Instinct (S. Pinker) and the parts I've read of another book which traces the development of different languages. Maybe some day I can take classes in that, too.
Since I graduated, I've taken three big trips. I went to Alaska twice (in 2001 and 2002) and New Zealand in 2003. The first Alaska trip involved hiking in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and kayaking in Glacier Bay National Park. Wrangell Mountain Air flew me and my hiking partner in to the edge of a lake that was something like a half-hour flight south from McCarthy, AK. We hiked around for a bit more than a week and then flew back to McCarthy with WMA. A map, with a somewhat incorrect line indicating the endpoints of the route, is here. In Glacier Bay, we kayaked for four days.
The second Alaska trip was backpacking in Gates of the Arctic National Park. We flew north from Bettles with Brooks Range Aviation and landed on a small lake. This was my first time in a float plane. We saw a whole lot of caribou on this trip, and one grizzly bear. After a bit over a week, we flew back to Bettles with Brooks Range. Our intended hiking route can be seen here.
For the New Zealand trip, we flew into Auckland and spent three days on the North Island. We first drove to Rotorua, where we went zorbing, then went caving in Waitomo Caves, and finally headed back to Auckland, where we got to sail on one of the boats built for the America's Cup race. We then flew to Queenstown, where we went bungee jumping, hang gliding, and hiking ("tramping") on the Routeburn track. We took a side trip to the west coast, where we took a guided tour of Fox Glacier.
During 2006, my girlfriend and I are planning to make some sort of 2-3 week trip. The destination is not yet certain, but indications are that we will go to Peru.
I got my Private Pilot license in March 2005. My main goals at the moment are to build experience and to have fun going places. The longest flight I've made so far was to Sedona, AZ for a wedding -- about a 3 hour flight. The weirdest thing was being out of the LA area and having little other traffic to contend with. My girlfriend has come along on most of the trips since I got my license. We tried to fly to Joshua Tree one day, but could not rent a car in either Twentynine Palms or Yucca Valley. We finally rented a U-Haul moving truck (not just a pickup truck, mind you) in Yucca Valley and were able to drive into the National Park for a few hours before having to fly back. I'm afraid my hopes of being able to fly to small airports and rent cars seem a bit too optimistic.
I made the mistake of not flying at all for a few months during winter. Now that I'm current and can again fly all of the club airplanes that I'm checked out in (two 172s and a Piper Archer), I'm looking forward to going places. Unfortunately, Spring 2006 has brought quite a bit of rainy, cloudy weather. I'm slowly starting to work on the beginnings of getting an instrument rating so that I won't be as limited in when I can fly.
My girlfriend gave me the very thoughtful gift of a one-hour intro flight in a helicopter for Christmas. I don't think I have the money to fly them on a regular basis, but it's a lot of fun!
I've done a bit of sailing and I enjoy it but haven't really found a group of people to go with on a regular basis. I took windsurfing classes one year and I enjoyed that more than sailing. I've done sea kayaking and want to try some river kayaking.
Having tried both skiing and snowboarding, I can say decisively that I don't know which I like better. I'm not great at either, but both are fun. I bought a snowboard, so that's what I do now.
The LA area has a variety of interesting places to eat. Many of the places I know are places I learned about in my college days in Pasadena. My normal fare back then was whatever was quick, close, and not too expensive. Usually, that meant Subway, Fraedos, Jack in the Box (aka "Balpha"), In 'N' Out, Zankou Chicken, Del Taco, or possibly Pataya or one of the cheap Chinese food places. President Thai was a Caltech favorite that was farther away but, fortunately, delivered to campus. I was introduced to Vietnamese food at 'tech. Some of my friends took me to Pho 79, a Vietnamese restaurant in Alhambra, but later we switched to going to Golden Deli. For the most part, the Chinese food restaurants right in Pasadena aren't very exciting. San Gabriel or Alhambra has a more interesting selection. I used to make regular trips to Sam Woo with some of my friends. Alternate choices include Dong Lai Shun and Shao Mei (Xiao Mei). Then there's Dim Sum, for which I've usually gone to Ocean Star. I should also mention Tarantino's, which has all-you-can-eat calzone night on Wednesdays, Chameli, a good vegetarian Indian place, and Souplantation, which just happens to be the prefect choice some days.
My favorite restaurant near work is Exotic Thai Bistro in Agoura Hills. I love their curry dishes. Almost every work day finds my co-workers and I in a struggle to choose between the following restaurants for lunch:
I've had a love-hate relationship with sleep for a long time. I hate to go to sleep at night and miss something interesting that's going on but I hate to stop sleeping once I start. Unfortunately, that often leads to a shifting sleep schedule. I should be in bed as I write this.
