Just ordered some more new t-shirts. I’ve been passively meaning to buy some from Sharing Machine (the store for Natalie Dee, Married to the Sea, and Toothpaste For Dinner comics). My Paypal $15 credit was running out, so I figured today was just as good of a time as any. Check ‘em out:
Awesome.
I’ve been doing VLSI layout in the Maxwell Dworkin basement for absurd amounts of time this week. It’s like playing a maddening version of Tetris where pieces can fall behind or in front of each other.
My professor recommended we drink lots of water while doing this. Besides a healthy practice, he suggested this because it makes us get up and walk to the bathroom. It’s a bit sad that my professor has to instruct us to physically move every few hours.
Anyway, here’s an 8-bit ripple carry adder that I layed out. That means it can add two numbers, where each number is somewhere between 0 to 255, inclusive. In theory, you could make a computer chip out of it, although it would be one of the dumbest and slowest chips of all time. Still, this project took me several full days to do, although that’s mostly because I didn’t know how to use the software (Cadence, if you’re curious).
Studies show that using a dual-monitor setup with your computer can increase productivity by 30%. Reading about dual-monitor setups will decrease your productivity by 100%.
Therefore, you’re only wasting 70% of your productivity if you’re reading this on a dual monitor setup.
I was taking a shower this morning when my local NPR station started in about global warming. I’m not sure, but they seemed to be implying that the erratic weather lately could be due to carbon emissions. It was around zero degrees last week, it was seventy degrees today, and it’s supposed to snow again on Friday. This seems odd so maybe they’re on to something.
Anyway, it also occurred to me that with this erratic weather I have to wear all my clothes, ranging from my winter fleeces to today’s Hawaiian shirt. Pretty soon I will have worn every item in my wardrobe.
As a lazy grad student, I would like to thank global warming for making sure I have to do my laundry as little as possible.
Although I didn’t really get much accomplished yesterday, it was oddly satisfying. I usually go to the gym on my way home from classes and studying, but it was really warm out. Since I had to get over to the Allston library, I decided I’d get my excercise biking out there.
On the way, I found “Bicycle Bill’s,” apparently a bike store. My bike had been making some very strange screeching noises (much like my car tends to) and the shifter was giving me some back-talk. Turns out all I needed to do was add some lube to my chain and gears and I was back in business. It was just $20 to fix it, including a can of lube for future creakyness. Unfortunately, my car does not cost that much to fix.
When I got to the library, they had more Sopranos DVDs for me on hold. Although nothing seems to come in order, it is free so I can’t complain.
Afterwords my computer’s setup for a project died, but I was too tired to care anyway.
I feel that I haven’t been very productive today. Does posting on my journal count?
Case. in. point.
I’ve been working hard in the basement of Maxwell Dworkin on my VLSI problem set. The class is about designing microprocessors so (quick) timing is important. While I was playing around with some settings I accidentally pumped out a nifty picture:
The lonely line going up at the beginning is my input while the lines in the opposite direction are my ouput. Lines that react faster are usually better because it means the processor can run faster.
