Graduate School Musings

UCSD Geisel Library (named after Theodor (Dr.) Seuss Geisel and his wife). The views from the 7th and 8th floor are pretty sweet.

I started graduate school this Thursday at UCSD. I am in the Electrical Engineering Master's degree program, with an emphasis in Intelligent Systems, Robotics, and Control. My undergraduate degree was in Computer Science and to get a full understanding of the graduate level classes I need to basically take 2 years of undergraduate EE classes. I won't take that many classes, but at least all of the classes I'm taking this quarter are undergraduate courses. And although I have only had 2 days of classes, I am already swamped and wondering if I am ready to leave the familiar relaxed atmosphere of my current job and go back to school. Too late I guess.

So I had a meeting with my advisor and he suggested that I go for the Ph.D. degree (since I will have that option if I want) and put myself in that mindset right now. For those who don't know, I have a scholarship through the Department of Defense that will allow me to go to school full time, work part time, and still make my full salary. I get full benefits (retirement, health insurance, etc.) while I go to school. So for those of you who pay your taxes, thanks. I promise to make a difference in the world and use your money wisely. The scholarship will pay for my masters and my doctorate (if I so choose) and I will owe the government back 1 year for every year I am in school. Not a bad deal! Currently I am not extremely devoted to the subject and have that deep down desire to delve into one specific subject for the next 5-8 years. But I do like going back to school, I think I will learn a great deal, and am excited to do research in the field of robotics and write a thesis for my Master's degree. Although I am only planning on two years of school, I might like it so much and want to continue. That is something I will assess as time goes on. But I am still naive in the ways of graduate degrees and could use some sage advice. So my question to those of you who might read this blog and have opinions in this area is, should I go on and get a Ph.D.? What are the pros and cons? What do you think? What would you do if you were in my shoes?

Disneyland 2009

So I know I am way behind on blogging and all but I had to write and let everyone know that in 2009 Disneyland is going to be offering free admission on your birthday. How awesome is that?? Also if you already have an annual pass then they will give you a ticket for another day, or the equivalent in a gift card to spend in the park that day. Anyway around it (esp. those who live in CA) this is a sweet deal. My kids are going to be stoked! Hope everyone is doing great:)

Check it out here:

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/disneyparks/en_US/WhatWillYouCelebrate/disneyland/index?name=CelebrationsDLRFreeOnYourBirthdayPage

London

The fourth and last installment of my reports on our trip to Europe, only 5 months late. I previously wrote about our stay in Venice and Rome. In addition, I just finished the one about Paris but started it back in April, so it won't show up as a new post.

My favorite stop in London was Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, the Tower of London. Inside lies the White Tower, a square fortress built by William the Conquerer in 1078. Inside . It was royal palace and fortress, but it was also a prison and place of execution. Heather is proudly re-enacting a bit of history here by getting her head chopped off.

Heather cozying up to the cold stone walls of the Tower of London
The escalators for the subway system in London are extremely long. Thought I would take a picture and let everyone see it. Pretty exciting.

Buckingham Palace

It really exists! Harry Potter is real!

By the end of our two weeks in Europe, we were pooped. We did the smallest amount of sightseeing, and took a break by relaxing and taking in the culture of London, via musicals. Here we are at Les Miserables.

Wicked

Sequoia National Forest Family Vacation

We took a family vacation to Sequoia this year. However, because we booked the camping spots so late in the season, we could only get two nights at a place called Hume Lake and two more nights in the main Sequoia touristy spot called Lodgepole. Here are a bunch of pictures that tell the story much better than I can.

We didn't actually see any bears but they told us there was one with her cub near our campsite the morning we arrived
Our boys next to the largest tree in the world, General Sherman
The entrance to Crystal Caves. Rett kept calling it the Spiderman Caves. Heather asked him where Spiderman was and he would say "he's hiding, no he's sleeping". We didn't actually get to see Spiderman while we were in there, but we did see lots of cool cave formations and Jacoby saw a bat

Aren't these trees just huge!

The boys helping Daddy row the boat on Hume Lake

After Jacoby showed a good effort and got his picture taken, Heather rowed us all the way there and back

Who wants a candy?

Playing around on the rock we found on our rowing trip

The family

A bear box. You put all your food in it when you aren't using it and the bears can't get into it. Camping in California is crazy! (Jacoby)
Coby was so excited that he was able to roast marshmallows and eat smores every night we were there

Our boys. (not hitting each other)

Cute boy

Coby sang this song after the bees kept attacking our food