I've migrated away from using windows since last year as a result of the poor reviews of Vista and it's high associated cost. Considering that you need a rather beefy system and the OS is quite a hog, I decided to jump boat and go with Linux as my main OS.
The translation has been largely painless and I am, for the most part happy with the OS. There are, however some draw backs for the specific version I am using. The 64 bit version of Ubuntu still has some significant bugs compared to the 32 bit version.
Though word on the net is that the 64 bit version is as stable as the 32 bit version there are some kinks with the system that does annoy me. One of them is the slow file transfers. I am currently relocating many of my media files to a dedicated media HD. For large file transfers (42 GB) I have found that transfer rates are quite slow, running at 5.6 MB/sec. The system I use has 2x SATA 500 GB hard drives, each should be able to sustain about 60 MB/sec of read and write operations. Getting only 1/12 of the transfer performance is quite painful, especially when it comes to having to wait 2 hours for the transfer to complete.
The other problem with the 64 bit version is that Java support isn't as solid compared to the 32 bit OS. The problem often leads me to restart my browser from time to time when the web applications I use stop working.
The advantage of having a 64 bit operating system is being able to address significantly more memory than a 32 bit operating system, which is limited to only 4 GB of ram. I am currently running at 4 GB of ram and have no plans in the near future to increase my memory pool. I don't even break 2 GB of used memory quite often.
Though I have to say that Ubuntu is quite solid when it comes to performance and user experience, I would go contrarty to what people are saying on the net that the 64 bit version is OK and stick with the 32 bit version. For the most part, you won't run into problems, but there will be times when you will want to back up your data and some of these bugs will irritate you.
With the prices of 1 TB hard drives dropping incredibly fast in Japan, I am seriously looking to pick up another drive and have the computer automatically back up important files on a regular basis.
Should the price of hard drives drop further, I would consider setting up a dedicated raid array for the OS (Raid 0) to improve OS performance and setup a secondary raid array for data redundancy.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Revolutionary ideas never come from managers
Be forewarned that my quality of writing and my ability to summarize ideas has gone to the shitter as of late. I haven't been doing much writing of late, nor have I had much time to really think my thoughts through as of recent. The other thing is that there aren't a whole lot of people in my current surroundings that I can have a in depth conversation which is usually a great way for me to really hash out my ideas... but anyways... with my excuses aside. I'll just try my best to hobble through this...
Managers lacking ideas
Revolutionary ideas or products never come from the management level. Think of every revolutionary product or service that was brought into existence. The company that was formed around those ideas generally consists of 2 kids working in a garage working together to realize a dream. Something beautiful, something they would love... and in turn something that everyone would also love.
It's as simple as that.
Managers don't have ideas... they're actually disparate for them
Being so far removed from the real work and managing people, managers are the least likely people to understand the fine details when it comes to something like, say, hardware. They don't touch the stuff anymore, nor do they see the stuff in action.
I've known managers really do is set lofty project goals. For instance, say, let's double the memory density of some chips within the next year... but how we are going to do it? Well that's everyone else's job.
This is how I've seen our project managed so far. Let's make bigger, or smaller, or brighter or faster. We want this done by next year, now get to work.
We have no idea if this is realistic and the grunts like myself are often flung of into some wild goose chase to put something together to appease the managers. It's pretty much as simple as that... it also sort of appalling. Is this honestly the best that they can do!? That is the wrong way of running a project, especially if you want to make something new.
Knowing what you want to build and knowing how to do it
With enough knowledge and skill you'll know the limitations of what you're doing and what you need to do to get the desired outcome. The most successful projects I've seen are run by people with the right kinds of technical ability to pull things off with the right group of people. They know what they want to put together and how they're going to do it and they don't need damn long meetings to report to "higher ups".
Anyways... I am going to give up for today with the writing.. it's frankly shit and I can't summarize anything well. There is actually, a lot of things that I want to say and there are a lot of connections that I want to make.. but I just can't seem to organize my thoughts or have the flow down right.
Practice, practice, practice... I guess...
Critical thinking skills do go dull if you stop using them. I've put my brain on hiatus for too long. Gotta resharpen my mind...
Managers lacking ideas
Revolutionary ideas or products never come from the management level. Think of every revolutionary product or service that was brought into existence. The company that was formed around those ideas generally consists of 2 kids working in a garage working together to realize a dream. Something beautiful, something they would love... and in turn something that everyone would also love.
It's as simple as that.
Managers don't have ideas... they're actually disparate for them
Being so far removed from the real work and managing people, managers are the least likely people to understand the fine details when it comes to something like, say, hardware. They don't touch the stuff anymore, nor do they see the stuff in action.
I've known managers really do is set lofty project goals. For instance, say, let's double the memory density of some chips within the next year... but how we are going to do it? Well that's everyone else's job.
This is how I've seen our project managed so far. Let's make bigger, or smaller, or brighter or faster. We want this done by next year, now get to work.
We have no idea if this is realistic and the grunts like myself are often flung of into some wild goose chase to put something together to appease the managers. It's pretty much as simple as that... it also sort of appalling. Is this honestly the best that they can do!? That is the wrong way of running a project, especially if you want to make something new.
Knowing what you want to build and knowing how to do it
With enough knowledge and skill you'll know the limitations of what you're doing and what you need to do to get the desired outcome. The most successful projects I've seen are run by people with the right kinds of technical ability to pull things off with the right group of people. They know what they want to put together and how they're going to do it and they don't need damn long meetings to report to "higher ups".
Anyways... I am going to give up for today with the writing.. it's frankly shit and I can't summarize anything well. There is actually, a lot of things that I want to say and there are a lot of connections that I want to make.. but I just can't seem to organize my thoughts or have the flow down right.
Practice, practice, practice... I guess...
Critical thinking skills do go dull if you stop using them. I've put my brain on hiatus for too long. Gotta resharpen my mind...
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Managers and meetings
I don't know what exactly everyone did to become a manager at where I work, some people did some pretty good work and then got noticed, others were just was around long enough to get a decent idea of everything that is going on to eventually get pushed into a managerial position.
But skill and seniority aside, if there is one thing that will make or break a project, it's the managers. I'd have to say that the less involved the managers are, the better the project is off.
I have yet to meet a really good manager; the kind that knows have to motivate a team, that knows how to set realistic goals and then provide the support to help the team achieve those objectives in a timely manner. If I would define the role of a manager, it would be exactly that.
What I have seen so far in terms of management in a large corporations, is that managers are the people that schedule meetings to have everyone report in on exactly what they are doing... so they themselves report to people further up the food chain on what is going on. Middle managers, generally tend to do very little work and don't seem to have the expert skills that the "grunts" have when it comes to getting the work done.
The other thing I have noticed about managers is that they are rather detached from the rest of the team... in the sense that they are not generally spending long periods of time working with the team to have a good sense of what is really going on. If there is one thing for certain, it is that a lot of information gets filtered out in meetings, because of time constraints and the other is to make oneself look good (ie. filter out all the experiments that went wrong and then present the stuff that went well... or even present a few bad things and a few good things and then tell the manager that you need more time to look into things). Attending meetings is more about knowing how to present than getting the work done it self... because it is the only thing that these managers really see.
I should also point out that there is a big difference in a person's ability to present and their ability to get something up and running. Eventually, what you might find for a large comany is that most of the managers are the kinds of people that are good at doing the talk... but when it comes to doing the walk.. it is an entirely different matter.
In essense, people that are just good at talking are *terrible* to be put into a desicion making position.
Managers and meetings
The biggest real-life role I've seen so far with managers is that they are meeting chairmen and I think that's pretty much the only real work that they do... and I would argue against the notion that they do any sort of real work.
For the most part, I've only seen managers setting up agendas and getting people to talk... trying to glean information out of everyone to try and make project level decisions. This is, of course, coming from a person that isn't involved with the project at it's most intimate levels and with visibility limited to what is presented to them.
How is one supposed to make good decisions based on a 2~3 hour discussion involving 5~6 people doing a shit load of work? I would argue that they can't and this is where most projects fail.
But skill and seniority aside, if there is one thing that will make or break a project, it's the managers. I'd have to say that the less involved the managers are, the better the project is off.
I have yet to meet a really good manager; the kind that knows have to motivate a team, that knows how to set realistic goals and then provide the support to help the team achieve those objectives in a timely manner. If I would define the role of a manager, it would be exactly that.
What I have seen so far in terms of management in a large corporations, is that managers are the people that schedule meetings to have everyone report in on exactly what they are doing... so they themselves report to people further up the food chain on what is going on. Middle managers, generally tend to do very little work and don't seem to have the expert skills that the "grunts" have when it comes to getting the work done.
The other thing I have noticed about managers is that they are rather detached from the rest of the team... in the sense that they are not generally spending long periods of time working with the team to have a good sense of what is really going on. If there is one thing for certain, it is that a lot of information gets filtered out in meetings, because of time constraints and the other is to make oneself look good (ie. filter out all the experiments that went wrong and then present the stuff that went well... or even present a few bad things and a few good things and then tell the manager that you need more time to look into things). Attending meetings is more about knowing how to present than getting the work done it self... because it is the only thing that these managers really see.
I should also point out that there is a big difference in a person's ability to present and their ability to get something up and running. Eventually, what you might find for a large comany is that most of the managers are the kinds of people that are good at doing the talk... but when it comes to doing the walk.. it is an entirely different matter.
In essense, people that are just good at talking are *terrible* to be put into a desicion making position.
Managers and meetings
The biggest real-life role I've seen so far with managers is that they are meeting chairmen and I think that's pretty much the only real work that they do... and I would argue against the notion that they do any sort of real work.
For the most part, I've only seen managers setting up agendas and getting people to talk... trying to glean information out of everyone to try and make project level decisions. This is, of course, coming from a person that isn't involved with the project at it's most intimate levels and with visibility limited to what is presented to them.
How is one supposed to make good decisions based on a 2~3 hour discussion involving 5~6 people doing a shit load of work? I would argue that they can't and this is where most projects fail.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Transience
Of the fond memories of coming back to Sendai is remembering all the interesting people I've met over the years. Many of them where international students from all over the world, most of them have gone back to their home countries. All of the ones that I have met were really nice people.
And now that I think of it, I haven't been in contact with most of them since they left. It makes me wonder, what are the characteristics of person that would make them your friend. Perhaps, I didn't articulate that well enough, but I also wonder what is the characteristics of the friend relationship. I've never really thought this before, not until coming back to Sendai, where I used to know a lot of people.
There are still many people that I know here, but I would only call out a few to hang out with. Many of the people I knew, were people I've met up along the way attending events or going out to my favorite bars where there were people I knew. We were all friends in passing. I've realized that I don't live here any more and my connection with these people has gone, though I would say that knowing them has brought plenty of joy while I've been living in Sendai. I've also started wondering about who are the people that I really want to spend time with, the people that I want to do things together with.
After moving away to Atsugi, I've realized that there are not that many people that pops into mind when I do want to do something. Many of the things that I really do enjoying, like going out on random walks or drives are the kinds of things that I enjoy doing on my own.
I have not found many people suited to my style of adventuring or perhaps, pace. Many of the things that I do enjoy doing now are the kinds of things that I can do on my own. Perhaps through some unconcious choices, I've chosen to lead a more solitary lifestyle. A kind of lifestyle where I can go on my own pace. It isn't just pace that I often find myself alone with, but the things I do and the kinds of things I like to think or talk about.
After joining my company and meeting the many new recruits that joined during the same year, there aren't many that I find myself hanging out with. I did hang out with them from time to time the first few months while at work, but the more I hung out with them, the more I realized that I never really did fit in with their conversations.
I met up with a good friend of mine in Sendai just yesterday for brunch. This friend of mine is an older lady in her 50's perhaps close to her 60's (I've never really bothered to ask), but she's always been volunteering and helping out new international students get settled in Sendai. I've always enjoyed our conversations, we would always discuss about our current traveling adventures, the interesting foods or places we've found or any interesting topics about different cultures.
She told me that she always found herself bored when she spent time with other housewives as they spent most of their time talking about the latest sit-coms or the cute clothing they bought for their children. She could never find inspiration in those conversations, but when it came to volunteering and helping out with the international students, there would always be plenty of interesting and fresh ideas.
The people that I find myself connecting the best with were with the international students. This afternoon, I found myself talking with a Columbian friend that has been living in Japan for the past 7 years, that is looking to go back home after graduating.
At this point, he was a little home sick and felt that it was time to go back home. As much as he had enjoyed his time in Japan and how significantly more money he could make by working over here, the place he called home was still Columbia. It was interesting discussing the whole traveling phase, but I suppose, at one point in a person's life, people living abroad will eventually have to pick a time to finally settle down.
I guess it is topics such as these that I would not find myself talking about with people that haven't had the opportunity to live in a foreign country. Especially with a normal Japanese colleague.
I have also found that I don't look at world events or the way of life in a different country the same anymore. I guess I've become more accepting of the differences and become far less judgmental. There are, of course times when I do think when things are wrong, especially when it comes to people getting annoyed at some parts of their own culture... it can be interesting sometimes at what stupid or silly things people end up doing as a result of "tradition."
But anyways, back to the topic of friends. So many people I've met through my time over here have come and gone. Everything has been so transient and perhaps I am looking for something that lasts. The question that I still need to figure out is what is the important ingredient that creates a strong bond between people.
I will leave myself to ponder over it for the next while...
And now that I think of it, I haven't been in contact with most of them since they left. It makes me wonder, what are the characteristics of person that would make them your friend. Perhaps, I didn't articulate that well enough, but I also wonder what is the characteristics of the friend relationship. I've never really thought this before, not until coming back to Sendai, where I used to know a lot of people.
There are still many people that I know here, but I would only call out a few to hang out with. Many of the people I knew, were people I've met up along the way attending events or going out to my favorite bars where there were people I knew. We were all friends in passing. I've realized that I don't live here any more and my connection with these people has gone, though I would say that knowing them has brought plenty of joy while I've been living in Sendai. I've also started wondering about who are the people that I really want to spend time with, the people that I want to do things together with.
After moving away to Atsugi, I've realized that there are not that many people that pops into mind when I do want to do something. Many of the things that I really do enjoying, like going out on random walks or drives are the kinds of things that I enjoy doing on my own.
I have not found many people suited to my style of adventuring or perhaps, pace. Many of the things that I do enjoy doing now are the kinds of things that I can do on my own. Perhaps through some unconcious choices, I've chosen to lead a more solitary lifestyle. A kind of lifestyle where I can go on my own pace. It isn't just pace that I often find myself alone with, but the things I do and the kinds of things I like to think or talk about.
After joining my company and meeting the many new recruits that joined during the same year, there aren't many that I find myself hanging out with. I did hang out with them from time to time the first few months while at work, but the more I hung out with them, the more I realized that I never really did fit in with their conversations.
I met up with a good friend of mine in Sendai just yesterday for brunch. This friend of mine is an older lady in her 50's perhaps close to her 60's (I've never really bothered to ask), but she's always been volunteering and helping out new international students get settled in Sendai. I've always enjoyed our conversations, we would always discuss about our current traveling adventures, the interesting foods or places we've found or any interesting topics about different cultures.
She told me that she always found herself bored when she spent time with other housewives as they spent most of their time talking about the latest sit-coms or the cute clothing they bought for their children. She could never find inspiration in those conversations, but when it came to volunteering and helping out with the international students, there would always be plenty of interesting and fresh ideas.
The people that I find myself connecting the best with were with the international students. This afternoon, I found myself talking with a Columbian friend that has been living in Japan for the past 7 years, that is looking to go back home after graduating.
At this point, he was a little home sick and felt that it was time to go back home. As much as he had enjoyed his time in Japan and how significantly more money he could make by working over here, the place he called home was still Columbia. It was interesting discussing the whole traveling phase, but I suppose, at one point in a person's life, people living abroad will eventually have to pick a time to finally settle down.
I guess it is topics such as these that I would not find myself talking about with people that haven't had the opportunity to live in a foreign country. Especially with a normal Japanese colleague.
I have also found that I don't look at world events or the way of life in a different country the same anymore. I guess I've become more accepting of the differences and become far less judgmental. There are, of course times when I do think when things are wrong, especially when it comes to people getting annoyed at some parts of their own culture... it can be interesting sometimes at what stupid or silly things people end up doing as a result of "tradition."
But anyways, back to the topic of friends. So many people I've met through my time over here have come and gone. Everything has been so transient and perhaps I am looking for something that lasts. The question that I still need to figure out is what is the important ingredient that creates a strong bond between people.
I will leave myself to ponder over it for the next while...
A Place Called Home
If there was a place in Japan where I could call home, that place would be Sendai. I left early on a Saturday morning, taking the bullet train out of the city traveling 300 km north to Sendai. Every time I get off the train at Sendai station, it feels like I've come back home.
Everything look familiar, every time I step out of the station. The stores, the bustling car and people walking through the city. I have many fond memories of this place. Manly because of all the people I know... or perhaps knew when they lived here.
Perhaps I wonder if it's nostalgia. Sort of like visiting your old high school or university years after graduating. It's like the place hasn't changed but the people are all different. The place feels familiar but yet somehow detached, it's like I am not a part of this city anymore.
Most of my friends in Sendai were students at the university, both the Japanese students and the foreign exchange students. Most of which have graduated and moved on since the era I was here. Still, some of my friends remain but my connection to people of this city feel diminished.
I do wonder, what is it about a place that you could call a "home" so special. I know for sure that I wouldn't call the place I live right now in Tokyo, home. It's just sort of a place to me. But Sendai is different. Is it the people? Is it the place? Is it what happens? I still can't put my finger on the specific reason behind it. But I believe that it is the combination of all 3 of these. Without the right people in the right place, I don't believe that I would have fond memories of this city. There are still people here that I know, perhaps like embers of the community that I used to be a part of.
I know for sure that a new group of international students move into this city every year as part of either their university program or through the Japanese run scholarship program. Most of them will live here for a year, some others will stay for a few years longer.
History will repeat itself. Students from around the world coming together to live at the international dorms. International culture exchange between each other, experiencing life in Japan, making friends, Christmas parties and exploration. New experiences almost everyday. The first time is always special and unfortunately, first time experiences only come once. If I did come back here, I know for sure that I wouldn't be able to join and experience life with these students in the same capacity as I did before. I know for sure that I would be taking part as a different role, probably as a facilitator. I guess that the saying is true and people do have to move on. It just isn't the same experiencing the same things over again.
It is great to experience something wonderful, but I also realize that is it important to know how to gracefully move on. No matter how wonderful, you can't allow yourself to be stuck in the past.
Everything look familiar, every time I step out of the station. The stores, the bustling car and people walking through the city. I have many fond memories of this place. Manly because of all the people I know... or perhaps knew when they lived here.
Perhaps I wonder if it's nostalgia. Sort of like visiting your old high school or university years after graduating. It's like the place hasn't changed but the people are all different. The place feels familiar but yet somehow detached, it's like I am not a part of this city anymore.
Most of my friends in Sendai were students at the university, both the Japanese students and the foreign exchange students. Most of which have graduated and moved on since the era I was here. Still, some of my friends remain but my connection to people of this city feel diminished.
I do wonder, what is it about a place that you could call a "home" so special. I know for sure that I wouldn't call the place I live right now in Tokyo, home. It's just sort of a place to me. But Sendai is different. Is it the people? Is it the place? Is it what happens? I still can't put my finger on the specific reason behind it. But I believe that it is the combination of all 3 of these. Without the right people in the right place, I don't believe that I would have fond memories of this city. There are still people here that I know, perhaps like embers of the community that I used to be a part of.
I know for sure that a new group of international students move into this city every year as part of either their university program or through the Japanese run scholarship program. Most of them will live here for a year, some others will stay for a few years longer.
History will repeat itself. Students from around the world coming together to live at the international dorms. International culture exchange between each other, experiencing life in Japan, making friends, Christmas parties and exploration. New experiences almost everyday. The first time is always special and unfortunately, first time experiences only come once. If I did come back here, I know for sure that I wouldn't be able to join and experience life with these students in the same capacity as I did before. I know for sure that I would be taking part as a different role, probably as a facilitator. I guess that the saying is true and people do have to move on. It just isn't the same experiencing the same things over again.
It is great to experience something wonderful, but I also realize that is it important to know how to gracefully move on. No matter how wonderful, you can't allow yourself to be stuck in the past.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
65 hours of over time
Been hell of a month, it's coming down to crunch time and we are finally starting to get into reliability testing. The problem is that development time wasn't properly allocated into reliability testing and things are in a complete pinch.
Just making something and having it come out pretty is one thing, but it's going to have to last if people are going to buy it.
Then I get suddenly thrown into the reliability testing group and will have to do a lot of redesign and testing to get things working right. According to the schedule, I have one shot to make the device and then hand it off to another division for some post processing (which they have one shot to get right) and then perform a 1000 hour lifetime test, where the the sample must pass.
I'm basically playing for a hole-in-one game here and the schedule is tight... actually, we are already behind schedule and it looks like I'll be puling 150 hours of over time in the span of 3 months. I'll be hitting the limit for overtime over a 3 month period.
Despite this, I keep my weekends busy with visiting friends and attending events. Ironically, I don't get much rest on weekends either.
It's easy to see how one's life turns into a work-rest-work cycle when doing these kinds of hours. You'll be old and nearly dead before you realize it. There are plenty of other things that I want to do but have absolutely no time to do them.
I'll be glad when this is all over.
Fortunately, I just got clearance to procure man-power from another division and will be roping in 2 people to help me and possibly getting one more person for some sort term experiments....
My supervisor is somewhat incompetent and scatter brained (lacking in good logical and planning skills) and unfortunately I don't have his experience with working on this project. Fortunately, he's going to be busy on another project and I'll be moving myself into managing the other guys coming in (whom are much older than I, but this will be interesting).
I've got a shot at making a name for myself if I can pull of a stunt to succeed at the reliability testing and crazy state that it is in right now. If it works out, I'll be asking the boss for a bonus for the winter and it'll be something nice to add to the resume.
Just making something and having it come out pretty is one thing, but it's going to have to last if people are going to buy it.
Then I get suddenly thrown into the reliability testing group and will have to do a lot of redesign and testing to get things working right. According to the schedule, I have one shot to make the device and then hand it off to another division for some post processing (which they have one shot to get right) and then perform a 1000 hour lifetime test, where the the sample must pass.
I'm basically playing for a hole-in-one game here and the schedule is tight... actually, we are already behind schedule and it looks like I'll be puling 150 hours of over time in the span of 3 months. I'll be hitting the limit for overtime over a 3 month period.
Despite this, I keep my weekends busy with visiting friends and attending events. Ironically, I don't get much rest on weekends either.
It's easy to see how one's life turns into a work-rest-work cycle when doing these kinds of hours. You'll be old and nearly dead before you realize it. There are plenty of other things that I want to do but have absolutely no time to do them.
I'll be glad when this is all over.
Fortunately, I just got clearance to procure man-power from another division and will be roping in 2 people to help me and possibly getting one more person for some sort term experiments....
My supervisor is somewhat incompetent and scatter brained (lacking in good logical and planning skills) and unfortunately I don't have his experience with working on this project. Fortunately, he's going to be busy on another project and I'll be moving myself into managing the other guys coming in (whom are much older than I, but this will be interesting).
I've got a shot at making a name for myself if I can pull of a stunt to succeed at the reliability testing and crazy state that it is in right now. If it works out, I'll be asking the boss for a bonus for the winter and it'll be something nice to add to the resume.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Summarizing and organizing data is important
I'll be brief, because I am tired. Getting hauled into work on a Sunday and then working 3 subsequent 12 hour days is not my particular cup of tea. Especially while working under a supervisor that is scatter brained and with terrible decision making skills.
I've given up on trying to blend in by nodding my head and doing what I am told as I have had my ass handed to me by higher up managers for following someone else's bad train of thought. Allow me to summarize the situation:
I am pretty much working on a somewhat complicated process using semiconductor type fabrication technology to make micro-level devices. These devices are fabricated by depositing a variety of metals and semi-conductors in an arrangement of patterns. There are some complexities depending on the geometry of the patterns you deposit or etch out and there are inevitably design trade offs or risks that one might have to take when trying out a new process.
The problem is that the supervisor that I work under shows little sign of reasoning, nor does he do a good job of explaining his reasoning to me (which might be poor in the first place). The end result is that I have no clue on what this guy is basing his reasoning on and occasionally it seems that we are flailing a little bit when it comes to trying to be focused on getting a design challenged solved in a finite amount of time. The problem really kicks in when we have a upper level manager starts questioning our reasoning for the design and experimentation to which sometimes we cannot connect the dots to. This drives me utterly crazy because it feels like the work we do that can't be properly explained is time wasted.
Ugh.
I will admit that working on a somewhat complex device can be a little challenging, though I do not think the process is all that complicated. There are multiple ways of trying to fabricate a device and often a preliminary study is required to determine it's feasibility. The problem is that my supervisor is not particularly good at keeping track of what we don't know, what information is required and comparing them to our other options. The other problem is that I am still a little inexperienced and don't know how to work all the machines we use, meaning I just can't run off and do my own thing (yet).
Anyways, if you want to succeed at a project via making good decisions. Knowing the basics and summarizing the important details is vital and working with smart people is important. I think I am going to be pissed off working with this supervisor for the next few months.
Hot damn.
I've given up on trying to blend in by nodding my head and doing what I am told as I have had my ass handed to me by higher up managers for following someone else's bad train of thought. Allow me to summarize the situation:
I am pretty much working on a somewhat complicated process using semiconductor type fabrication technology to make micro-level devices. These devices are fabricated by depositing a variety of metals and semi-conductors in an arrangement of patterns. There are some complexities depending on the geometry of the patterns you deposit or etch out and there are inevitably design trade offs or risks that one might have to take when trying out a new process.
The problem is that the supervisor that I work under shows little sign of reasoning, nor does he do a good job of explaining his reasoning to me (which might be poor in the first place). The end result is that I have no clue on what this guy is basing his reasoning on and occasionally it seems that we are flailing a little bit when it comes to trying to be focused on getting a design challenged solved in a finite amount of time. The problem really kicks in when we have a upper level manager starts questioning our reasoning for the design and experimentation to which sometimes we cannot connect the dots to. This drives me utterly crazy because it feels like the work we do that can't be properly explained is time wasted.
Ugh.
I will admit that working on a somewhat complex device can be a little challenging, though I do not think the process is all that complicated. There are multiple ways of trying to fabricate a device and often a preliminary study is required to determine it's feasibility. The problem is that my supervisor is not particularly good at keeping track of what we don't know, what information is required and comparing them to our other options. The other problem is that I am still a little inexperienced and don't know how to work all the machines we use, meaning I just can't run off and do my own thing (yet).
Anyways, if you want to succeed at a project via making good decisions. Knowing the basics and summarizing the important details is vital and working with smart people is important. I think I am going to be pissed off working with this supervisor for the next few months.
Hot damn.
Friday, May 01, 2009
Farming out the work vs doing it yourself
I had a conversation with one of my coworkers yesterday with the difference between building equipment on your own or having an outside company do it for you or buying something ready made.
I am the kind of guy that likes to build things up on my own, especially if it's something likely to be expensive. For example, I'd much rather buy a few cheap chips and put together an electronic circuit to do some data logging or motor control instead of buying a full blown system that would run into a few hundred or thousands of dollars; especially for a personal project.
Working in a company, however, it isn't unusual to just go out and buy the equipment you need to get what you need done, freeing time up for yourself to stay focused on what you really need to do. But I find that there is a problem with this way of thinking however, especially when it comes to understanding the possibilities of what you can do with the right technologies or equipment put together.
Most people in my research group aren't technologically savvy. They know how to use the machines and the basic principles behind using them but that's about it. They don't know much about electronics or programming that might make their lives a whole lot easier. I have proposed in the past, cheap tunable circuits that could be used to drive some our devices while hooking up the outputs to a data logger to allow us to take detailed data. The circuits themselves would only cost about $10 each to make.
Unfortunately, some other person took over the project and elected to purchase a multi-channel driver circuit that costs about $100 to drive a single device. We are taking about an entire difference in magnitude in cost and massive parallelism is not possible because the driver circuit is the size of a brick where as mine is the size of a cell phone pad (and I can have several driving circuits on there too!). The system will also take a few months to procure too. I simply had to just shake my head at the whole ordeal.
The co-worker of mine has been needling me from time to time that it would be more expensive for the company, money wise to expend the cash for the development time of whatever I would be building instead of purchasing it.
For cheap devices, sure I can understand that of course, but when it comes to custom programs or equipment to help speed up the work I and others do, that kind of equipment just doesn't really exist as a prepackaged system and it's going to have to be assembled from the ground up. Having the work farmed out to an external company will at least costs in the $10,000 range if not in the $100,000 range and this is the kind of stuff that I would have a hell of a time getting approval from the higher ups for. I could do the whole thing for much cheaper, on my own without the excess bureaucracy. The problem is finding the time and the resources to pull it off, which sort of has me stuck.
The one other thing that I didn't like with my colleague's thinking is that I should let "pro's" handle work (ie circuits) that is outside one's expertise. I fully believe that that kind of thinking is wrong. This is coming from a guy that has ribbed me on making programs is "easy" and that if he wanted to, he could pick it up pretty fast. To put it honestly, I think he's full of shit.
I realize that having specialized skills is important, but having a lack of good understanding in different fields of knowledge is a fatal mistake. I've seen this plenty enough when researchers here screw up their spec sheets and they're not getting the expected response times from the custom made machines. I've had to step in a few times to devise work-arounds for whatever problems they were having.
Having a poor understanding of different fields is also a recipe for creative disaster and I believe it shows with the kinds of products I've seen from this company versus other companies. They've been off the ball when it comes to anticipating future teility to summarize my thoughts has gone to the crapper since my hiatus from writing. Ichnological trends and often plays catchup with other companies.
Anyways, it's been a while since the last time I did any sort of writing and my ab am going to have to rebuild these skills because I definitely feel that my cognitive skills have been in decline since stopping. Here is hopping that it gets better after I get back into the swing of things.
I am the kind of guy that likes to build things up on my own, especially if it's something likely to be expensive. For example, I'd much rather buy a few cheap chips and put together an electronic circuit to do some data logging or motor control instead of buying a full blown system that would run into a few hundred or thousands of dollars; especially for a personal project.
Working in a company, however, it isn't unusual to just go out and buy the equipment you need to get what you need done, freeing time up for yourself to stay focused on what you really need to do. But I find that there is a problem with this way of thinking however, especially when it comes to understanding the possibilities of what you can do with the right technologies or equipment put together.
Most people in my research group aren't technologically savvy. They know how to use the machines and the basic principles behind using them but that's about it. They don't know much about electronics or programming that might make their lives a whole lot easier. I have proposed in the past, cheap tunable circuits that could be used to drive some our devices while hooking up the outputs to a data logger to allow us to take detailed data. The circuits themselves would only cost about $10 each to make.
Unfortunately, some other person took over the project and elected to purchase a multi-channel driver circuit that costs about $100 to drive a single device. We are taking about an entire difference in magnitude in cost and massive parallelism is not possible because the driver circuit is the size of a brick where as mine is the size of a cell phone pad (and I can have several driving circuits on there too!). The system will also take a few months to procure too. I simply had to just shake my head at the whole ordeal.
The co-worker of mine has been needling me from time to time that it would be more expensive for the company, money wise to expend the cash for the development time of whatever I would be building instead of purchasing it.
For cheap devices, sure I can understand that of course, but when it comes to custom programs or equipment to help speed up the work I and others do, that kind of equipment just doesn't really exist as a prepackaged system and it's going to have to be assembled from the ground up. Having the work farmed out to an external company will at least costs in the $10,000 range if not in the $100,000 range and this is the kind of stuff that I would have a hell of a time getting approval from the higher ups for. I could do the whole thing for much cheaper, on my own without the excess bureaucracy. The problem is finding the time and the resources to pull it off, which sort of has me stuck.
The one other thing that I didn't like with my colleague's thinking is that I should let "pro's" handle work (ie circuits) that is outside one's expertise. I fully believe that that kind of thinking is wrong. This is coming from a guy that has ribbed me on making programs is "easy" and that if he wanted to, he could pick it up pretty fast. To put it honestly, I think he's full of shit.
I realize that having specialized skills is important, but having a lack of good understanding in different fields of knowledge is a fatal mistake. I've seen this plenty enough when researchers here screw up their spec sheets and they're not getting the expected response times from the custom made machines. I've had to step in a few times to devise work-arounds for whatever problems they were having.
Having a poor understanding of different fields is also a recipe for creative disaster and I believe it shows with the kinds of products I've seen from this company versus other companies. They've been off the ball when it comes to anticipating future teility to summarize my thoughts has gone to the crapper since my hiatus from writing. Ichnological trends and often plays catchup with other companies.
Anyways, it's been a while since the last time I did any sort of writing and my ab am going to have to rebuild these skills because I definitely feel that my cognitive skills have been in decline since stopping. Here is hopping that it gets better after I get back into the swing of things.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Knowing when to Quit
I already know that this job isn't what I love doing and spending too much time doing it is going to be a waste of time. There was an article where Steve Jobs had once said some thing to the effect of that if you don't love what you are doing then you are wasting your time. In a sense, it would be like going out with a girl that you kind of liked but never really loved.
I know that spending my time working on working on semiconductor based display systems is not for me. The whole process is slow, boring and repetitious. I don't like slaving over the same boring thing. It's time for me to start working on my exit strategy.
I already know that is it going to be tough for me, with the terrible financial winds blowing my way. I've already lost most of my life savings in the span of half a year. It hurts to see what I wanted to have done all been blown away. Like a beautiful dream being snuffed out of existence. It hurts.
My recovery will have to be on my own. I don't feel comfortable talking to my parent's about any sort of problem. It always feels like they are blaming me for whatever mistake I made. I know that already and that isn't going to help me feel better help fix things. I guess that is one of those things about my relationship with parents. As long as I gave them good results, I wouldn't be bothered by them and I was happy with that.
So here I am, on my own. I'm going to have to get things together.
I'm not going to stay in this company forever, I know that. The management team is inefficient and the communication is not really there. The people there don't feel revolutionary and it show in the products. I don't feel inspired. I have a general idea of what I like, I need to polish up on my skills. When I'm ready, I'm going to catch my break.
This is what I want, I'm not going to be a peon forever.
I know that spending my time working on working on semiconductor based display systems is not for me. The whole process is slow, boring and repetitious. I don't like slaving over the same boring thing. It's time for me to start working on my exit strategy.
I already know that is it going to be tough for me, with the terrible financial winds blowing my way. I've already lost most of my life savings in the span of half a year. It hurts to see what I wanted to have done all been blown away. Like a beautiful dream being snuffed out of existence. It hurts.
My recovery will have to be on my own. I don't feel comfortable talking to my parent's about any sort of problem. It always feels like they are blaming me for whatever mistake I made. I know that already and that isn't going to help me feel better help fix things. I guess that is one of those things about my relationship with parents. As long as I gave them good results, I wouldn't be bothered by them and I was happy with that.
So here I am, on my own. I'm going to have to get things together.
I'm not going to stay in this company forever, I know that. The management team is inefficient and the communication is not really there. The people there don't feel revolutionary and it show in the products. I don't feel inspired. I have a general idea of what I like, I need to polish up on my skills. When I'm ready, I'm going to catch my break.
This is what I want, I'm not going to be a peon forever.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Reclaiming lost territory
If there is a trend for me this year, it's that my life keeps on going from bad to worse. Atleast the stock market has a bottom, but for me, the bottom seems boundless.
I have managed to wipe out most of my life savings via the stock market and a variety of bad things happening causing me to have more cash wiped out. I am also sick of tired of work. I got a tongue lashing today because one of the bosses wanted a spec sheet for some experiments I was to run.
Some other managers stepped in and told me that since I'm still new around here that I probably wasn't qualified to write one of those so I left it as is. So they tell me that I didn't have to write one. The boss comes to me and bugs me to make one, I ask one of my superiors to help me out, but I just can't get the ball rolling. So today, I had to tell the boss that I didn't have a spec sheet for him.
My day really sucked. I also got to wake up to an e-mail from my brokerage that I hit some margin limit on some options and they automatically liquidated some of my positions for a loss.
My life's just been a shit hitting the fan fest and it's depressing... and there's a lot of things that I can't say because my parents read this blog. The only thing I hear from them are complaints about what I write and I'm sick of it. Bloody sick of it.
I am tired of trying to please people like parents or superiors so I'm not going to try anymore. I'm not looking for a fight but it's time to follow my own conscience, it's time to go my own way. I've lost too much of myself trying to please everybody.... and that's it.
I have managed to wipe out most of my life savings via the stock market and a variety of bad things happening causing me to have more cash wiped out. I am also sick of tired of work. I got a tongue lashing today because one of the bosses wanted a spec sheet for some experiments I was to run.
Some other managers stepped in and told me that since I'm still new around here that I probably wasn't qualified to write one of those so I left it as is. So they tell me that I didn't have to write one. The boss comes to me and bugs me to make one, I ask one of my superiors to help me out, but I just can't get the ball rolling. So today, I had to tell the boss that I didn't have a spec sheet for him.
My day really sucked. I also got to wake up to an e-mail from my brokerage that I hit some margin limit on some options and they automatically liquidated some of my positions for a loss.
My life's just been a shit hitting the fan fest and it's depressing... and there's a lot of things that I can't say because my parents read this blog. The only thing I hear from them are complaints about what I write and I'm sick of it. Bloody sick of it.
I am tired of trying to please people like parents or superiors so I'm not going to try anymore. I'm not looking for a fight but it's time to follow my own conscience, it's time to go my own way. I've lost too much of myself trying to please everybody.... and that's it.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
One of those years
It's been a rather rocky year. A lot of shit hitting the fan and things just simply not going right. Actually, things that are just going in the exact opposite direction. It seems that I'm in one of those stages where something can go wrong, it does... in the worse possible manner.
Anyways, I'll start posting again when things start getting a little better.
A break would be nice.
Anyways, I'll start posting again when things start getting a little better.
A break would be nice.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Off to Korea
It's a long weekend. Will be off to Korea to visit some friends. Pouring rain in Japan, hope the weather is better over there.
More about the trip after I get back.
More about the trip after I get back.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
It's noon, finished with work and with time to kill
Things are looking up. I Managed to snag some machine time last week when some people canceled their experiments and managed to push my work ahead of schedule. The thing is that the next processing step for me can't be done for another day meaning that I'm done with work... and it hasn't hit noon yet.
The software writing for the new test equipment we received still hasn't been completed. It still has bugs and run damn slow. The company we contracted to put the machine together is way behind schedule on the project. I've already been called in to start helping out with their programming.
The annoying thing is that I've managed to get the machine working 2~3x faster after spending about an hour reworking their code to make it faster... and these guys are charging $20,000 for the control software they are writing for us. I probably get the software done in a week and would exceptionally happy if my boss would pay me even just $10,000. But alas, that isn't how things work around here.
There are huge opportunities for big dollar contracts out here, I really have to figure out how to tap in to these things.
I guess that the nice thing about work is that I have no direct supervision and I have pretty much control over my work schedule-- I do what I want, when I want to. As long as I produce results, nobody complains. The trick is finding ways of getting the work done faster and you don't necessarily have to tell these guys that you've finished in advance.
I personally like reinvesting the time I gain by figuring out how I can get more work done, even faster to make more free time for myself to do what I want. Fully automated machines to do my bidding is a pipe dream. And of course, the only person that should have the skills to program and maintain them is me.
I need to figure out how to get into this business thing. There ought to be great opportunities to be tapped.
The software writing for the new test equipment we received still hasn't been completed. It still has bugs and run damn slow. The company we contracted to put the machine together is way behind schedule on the project. I've already been called in to start helping out with their programming.
The annoying thing is that I've managed to get the machine working 2~3x faster after spending about an hour reworking their code to make it faster... and these guys are charging $20,000 for the control software they are writing for us. I probably get the software done in a week and would exceptionally happy if my boss would pay me even just $10,000. But alas, that isn't how things work around here.
There are huge opportunities for big dollar contracts out here, I really have to figure out how to tap in to these things.
I guess that the nice thing about work is that I have no direct supervision and I have pretty much control over my work schedule-- I do what I want, when I want to. As long as I produce results, nobody complains. The trick is finding ways of getting the work done faster and you don't necessarily have to tell these guys that you've finished in advance.
I personally like reinvesting the time I gain by figuring out how I can get more work done, even faster to make more free time for myself to do what I want. Fully automated machines to do my bidding is a pipe dream. And of course, the only person that should have the skills to program and maintain them is me.
I need to figure out how to get into this business thing. There ought to be great opportunities to be tapped.
Monday, March 02, 2009
The Power of Results
There used to be a time in my life where I did enjoy debates, the concept of being able to stake out a position, think it though and argue that it is the most logical position.
If there is one thing that University teaches you, especially in the fields of engineering and science, it is that theory and practice are 2 entirely different things. In an ideal world, theory would be the same as practice and if someone were able to accomplish exactly everything that they say they would do, then they would be no less than a god.
The only things that I am most confident about are my limitations in intellect and knowledge. And hence forth, I have largely given up on getting into lively debates with people. Unless, of course, if it is to use what I know to at least show how someone with the greatest stubborn convictions, how much more they need to understand.
If there was such a thing of "a lot of hot air about nothing" then debates would be it. I've seen TV commentators and pundits having all sorts of debates, from what should the role of the government should be to who is the hottest swimsuit model. All of this, none the less theoretical. At one point, it just seems rather pointless to even bother putting an effort into it.
Myself, like other people, will obviously have things that we might not agree with. Whether be it the way a company is run or with what people do. There will most definitely times when you will be right and everyone will be wrong (and you have the uncanny ability to be consistently right then kudos to you), or perhaps, too little people that actually care (which is probably the more general case). From experience, there isn't much of a point of screaming at the top of your lungs trying to get people to listen to you. And perhaps this is a good thing as a virtue, because I know no ends to the number of exceptionally loud and annoying people I've come across in my lifetime.
A war of words
If it's going to be a challenge of words against words, you might as well be having a pillow fight... without the pillows because that's as much impact words do have by themselves.
If there is a measure of the worthiness of a person's idea, it's all in the results they produce. It gets nothing more concrete then that. If you have a thousand people with a thousand ideas and (if you're lucky) one of them is right, it matters not how well they can convince you with the eloquence of their speech but with the results they produce.
There is a cost to being wrong
For every action there is a risk and there will especially be a cost if you are wrong. I believe that this a fairly fundamental concept that most people are generally not aware of. With the cost of failure money, resources or time, there is always a cost associated with being wrong.
For the case of the individual going about and doing their own thing, it matters not to anyone else if they try something new and screw up badly, so long as their screw ups don't incur a cost on you or me. But now that we are talking about the failures of some 3rd party on us, it comes quite evident that as a society that we don't want to be bearing the costs or responsibility of some other person's mistake.
There is even a branch of law that deals with this, otherwise known as Tort Law, where person suffering the loss by someone's (intentional or unintentional) actions is compensated by the "offender." In other words, it's a branch of law that tries to force people to take responsibility, in the most general terms. We simply don't like bearing the costs of someone else's mistakes and I would have to say that it is natural.
You're going to have to be right and resourceful
If there are 2 things that are necessary for success, then being right and resourceful are it. Because, honestly, no one in general is going to think that you are right and if they don't think you can do it, they aren't going to give you the resources to try, especially at their expense (the financial markets made that mistake and look at the mess that we got for an example)
So what have you? Pretty much nothing, but your wits and what you can get your hands on. The best of every success story usually starts off with some kids in a garage working on something that turned into the next cool thing. Apple started out that way, with computers in a wooden box. Bill Gates started out by mooching computer time in the middle of the night at his university to produce the first OS for that Altair computer. Sony started off in the shambles of Tokyo after WW2, the founders made their first version of a magnetic tape which required ferric oxide, which they managed to get by roasting oxalic ferride powder in a frying pan because ferric oxide was too scarce and expensive to obtain. Or perhaps the beginnings of Dell computer, which started out with an internet connection and assembly of computers in one own's dorm room.
If there is anything in common with the most successful companies that started, it was the resourcefulness and the brightness of their ideas that got everything started. Some of the brightest ideas can come from the most inconcievable places, far from the reaches of where any debate might venture into considering.
If you want to be successful, don't bother arguing with people. Have some ideas (hopefully right ones) and be resourceful. If you end up being right, the world will start throwing money at you.
If there is one thing that University teaches you, especially in the fields of engineering and science, it is that theory and practice are 2 entirely different things. In an ideal world, theory would be the same as practice and if someone were able to accomplish exactly everything that they say they would do, then they would be no less than a god.
The only things that I am most confident about are my limitations in intellect and knowledge. And hence forth, I have largely given up on getting into lively debates with people. Unless, of course, if it is to use what I know to at least show how someone with the greatest stubborn convictions, how much more they need to understand.
If there was such a thing of "a lot of hot air about nothing" then debates would be it. I've seen TV commentators and pundits having all sorts of debates, from what should the role of the government should be to who is the hottest swimsuit model. All of this, none the less theoretical. At one point, it just seems rather pointless to even bother putting an effort into it.
Myself, like other people, will obviously have things that we might not agree with. Whether be it the way a company is run or with what people do. There will most definitely times when you will be right and everyone will be wrong (and you have the uncanny ability to be consistently right then kudos to you), or perhaps, too little people that actually care (which is probably the more general case). From experience, there isn't much of a point of screaming at the top of your lungs trying to get people to listen to you. And perhaps this is a good thing as a virtue, because I know no ends to the number of exceptionally loud and annoying people I've come across in my lifetime.
A war of words
If it's going to be a challenge of words against words, you might as well be having a pillow fight... without the pillows because that's as much impact words do have by themselves.
If there is a measure of the worthiness of a person's idea, it's all in the results they produce. It gets nothing more concrete then that. If you have a thousand people with a thousand ideas and (if you're lucky) one of them is right, it matters not how well they can convince you with the eloquence of their speech but with the results they produce.
There is a cost to being wrong
For every action there is a risk and there will especially be a cost if you are wrong. I believe that this a fairly fundamental concept that most people are generally not aware of. With the cost of failure money, resources or time, there is always a cost associated with being wrong.
For the case of the individual going about and doing their own thing, it matters not to anyone else if they try something new and screw up badly, so long as their screw ups don't incur a cost on you or me. But now that we are talking about the failures of some 3rd party on us, it comes quite evident that as a society that we don't want to be bearing the costs or responsibility of some other person's mistake.
There is even a branch of law that deals with this, otherwise known as Tort Law, where person suffering the loss by someone's (intentional or unintentional) actions is compensated by the "offender." In other words, it's a branch of law that tries to force people to take responsibility, in the most general terms. We simply don't like bearing the costs of someone else's mistakes and I would have to say that it is natural.
You're going to have to be right and resourceful
If there are 2 things that are necessary for success, then being right and resourceful are it. Because, honestly, no one in general is going to think that you are right and if they don't think you can do it, they aren't going to give you the resources to try, especially at their expense (the financial markets made that mistake and look at the mess that we got for an example)
So what have you? Pretty much nothing, but your wits and what you can get your hands on. The best of every success story usually starts off with some kids in a garage working on something that turned into the next cool thing. Apple started out that way, with computers in a wooden box. Bill Gates started out by mooching computer time in the middle of the night at his university to produce the first OS for that Altair computer. Sony started off in the shambles of Tokyo after WW2, the founders made their first version of a magnetic tape which required ferric oxide, which they managed to get by roasting oxalic ferride powder in a frying pan because ferric oxide was too scarce and expensive to obtain. Or perhaps the beginnings of Dell computer, which started out with an internet connection and assembly of computers in one own's dorm room.
If there is anything in common with the most successful companies that started, it was the resourcefulness and the brightness of their ideas that got everything started. Some of the brightest ideas can come from the most inconcievable places, far from the reaches of where any debate might venture into considering.
If you want to be successful, don't bother arguing with people. Have some ideas (hopefully right ones) and be resourceful. If you end up being right, the world will start throwing money at you.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
My Bet: GM to go Broke before June
GM has a negative equity of $60 billion. I've never seen a listed company with negative equity before but it basically means that company, if bought is worth less than $0, yet some how the market capitalization for GM is $1.13 billion at it's current share price of $1.85.
So if someone bought out GM for $1.13 billion, you'd get $60 billion in debt. Sounds like a terrible deal to me. So here's my question, what do you do with a company that is so terribly in debt? You shut it down. Sad, but true.
I highly doubt that GM will ever make it back to profitability, or even have positive equity in this lifetime. Given the current economic climate we have now, I highly doubt that car sales will return in time to even give GM a chance.
So here's my play. I've decided to buy a few put options with a strike at $3 for $2. If GM goes broke, share price goes to zero, the contracts become exercisable and the underwriter is forced to buy @ $3.
We'll see what happens.
So if someone bought out GM for $1.13 billion, you'd get $60 billion in debt. Sounds like a terrible deal to me. So here's my question, what do you do with a company that is so terribly in debt? You shut it down. Sad, but true.
I highly doubt that GM will ever make it back to profitability, or even have positive equity in this lifetime. Given the current economic climate we have now, I highly doubt that car sales will return in time to even give GM a chance.
So here's my play. I've decided to buy a few put options with a strike at $3 for $2. If GM goes broke, share price goes to zero, the contracts become exercisable and the underwriter is forced to buy @ $3.
We'll see what happens.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Terrible Analysis Should be a Crime
I've been following up on a lot of economic reports recently and I have to say that the quality of analysis being published on the internet is crap. Not just ordinary crap, but the kind of crap that might have come out of mutant cow that should've been shot in the first place.
Yeah, it's that bad and I am in a ranting mood.
Just having data doesn't make you intelligent
Sure, having data might make you *seem* intelligent, because it might imply that you did some "research" possibly leading to some interesting conclusion, but saying stupid things based on good data still doesn't change anything-- you'd still be an idiot.
I remember once I was listening to a commentator quote that once that the richest 10%, despite making about 90% of the wealth should be outraged because 10% of the population was paying 90% of the taxes. Hence progressive taxes are a bad thing-- we should have a flat tax instead.
For a second, he sounded intelligent. After I thought about it, he was a total idiot.
Suppose that we did have a flat tax. The people that made 90% of the wealth would pay 90% of the taxes by definition of a flat tax. Suppose that there were 11 people out there. 1 man that made $9 and 10 men that made $1 and everyone was taxed at 10%.
The total amount of money made was $10, so the government would get $1 out of it. Right? So let's figure out how much everyone paid!
The 1 rich guy paid $0.9, the 10 poor guys each paid $0.01 for a total of $0.1. The rich guy that made 90% of the money paid 90% of the taxes!
I am surprised that people with intellectual deficiencies this bad haven't been weeded out by natural selection because it takes talent to be this stupid!
Critical Analysis is Crucial
The ability to think critically is essential, because this directly relates a person's ability to put data into perspective. In other words, it's what gives meaning to data. Meaningless data is useless, the same goes for people that don't have critical thinking skills.
If you think I'm being harsh, well... the conversation would just have to end here... Heh.
Just being Critical doesn't Mean that you're Smart
Especially if you're wrong. We all know the loud mouthed critical dude that thinks he knows his stuff but is completely off the deep end. If you want an ounce of respect, you've gotta be right. Right in ways that are concrete and measurable.
Now that's the real test of intelligence.
It's tough being smart. Smart people know this and know when to shut up. The stupid ones don't.
Yeah, it's that bad and I am in a ranting mood.
Just having data doesn't make you intelligent
Sure, having data might make you *seem* intelligent, because it might imply that you did some "research" possibly leading to some interesting conclusion, but saying stupid things based on good data still doesn't change anything-- you'd still be an idiot.
I remember once I was listening to a commentator quote that once that the richest 10%, despite making about 90% of the wealth should be outraged because 10% of the population was paying 90% of the taxes. Hence progressive taxes are a bad thing-- we should have a flat tax instead.
For a second, he sounded intelligent. After I thought about it, he was a total idiot.
Suppose that we did have a flat tax. The people that made 90% of the wealth would pay 90% of the taxes by definition of a flat tax. Suppose that there were 11 people out there. 1 man that made $9 and 10 men that made $1 and everyone was taxed at 10%.
The total amount of money made was $10, so the government would get $1 out of it. Right? So let's figure out how much everyone paid!
The 1 rich guy paid $0.9, the 10 poor guys each paid $0.01 for a total of $0.1. The rich guy that made 90% of the money paid 90% of the taxes!
I am surprised that people with intellectual deficiencies this bad haven't been weeded out by natural selection because it takes talent to be this stupid!
Critical Analysis is Crucial
The ability to think critically is essential, because this directly relates a person's ability to put data into perspective. In other words, it's what gives meaning to data. Meaningless data is useless, the same goes for people that don't have critical thinking skills.
If you think I'm being harsh, well... the conversation would just have to end here... Heh.
Just being Critical doesn't Mean that you're Smart
Especially if you're wrong. We all know the loud mouthed critical dude that thinks he knows his stuff but is completely off the deep end. If you want an ounce of respect, you've gotta be right. Right in ways that are concrete and measurable.
Now that's the real test of intelligence.
It's tough being smart. Smart people know this and know when to shut up. The stupid ones don't.
Outsourcing done the wrong way
I mentioned earlier that my project group is having a $100,000 machine custom built and delivered for our research work. My research team has decided to put me as the guy that deals with the details of getting the machine working. The hardware setup had been finally completed the machine has been moved into our labs.
The stupid thing is that the people that built the machine haven't been on time with the software, not a single line of code written and the thing is even written labview for crying out loud. And some how, having the control software is costing us $20~$30k to write and they plan to do it in a week. I could do that kind of work in a heartbeat and I've done it before too on a different machine.
So here's the deal, one day at work, my supervisor was off on a business trip for several days and to kill time, I decided to write software to automate one of the experiments we do. Basically, what people used to do was take data every hour for some experiment. The experiment would generally run for as long as someone was at work. What I did is automate the process, I managed to figure out the code and write the entire software in 3 days and now we run data logging experiments for 72 hours instead of just 8 like we used to do.
The guys we've contracted to do the same job are sending in 2 guys and need a week to do it. Seriously, I can do what they do in half the time and half the man power.
I shake my head at this whole thing. The point of outsourcing is to *save* money! Well there you have it... if you want to get rich, be a contractor! Working for big corporations is like taking candy from a baby.
The stupid thing is that the people that built the machine haven't been on time with the software, not a single line of code written and the thing is even written labview for crying out loud. And some how, having the control software is costing us $20~$30k to write and they plan to do it in a week. I could do that kind of work in a heartbeat and I've done it before too on a different machine.
So here's the deal, one day at work, my supervisor was off on a business trip for several days and to kill time, I decided to write software to automate one of the experiments we do. Basically, what people used to do was take data every hour for some experiment. The experiment would generally run for as long as someone was at work. What I did is automate the process, I managed to figure out the code and write the entire software in 3 days and now we run data logging experiments for 72 hours instead of just 8 like we used to do.
The guys we've contracted to do the same job are sending in 2 guys and need a week to do it. Seriously, I can do what they do in half the time and half the man power.
I shake my head at this whole thing. The point of outsourcing is to *save* money! Well there you have it... if you want to get rich, be a contractor! Working for big corporations is like taking candy from a baby.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Almost One Year
It's almost one year since I started working in Japan doing R&D work. I'd have to say that time most certainly flies, that of course might imply that I've been having fun. To a degree, I'd have to say most definitely yes, but I'd have to say that most of my fun isn't work related, but I digress.
A few days ago, I form was sent out to me and to the other new recruits to prepare a form as a sort of a review of their work place, what the environment is like, what we do, personal satisfaction with the job and any other sort of comments that might help us do our job better.
The form needs to be submitted next week and the new recruits are going get together for some kind of meeting with the HR people. So I am going to take this time to write my own review of the year to help me put things into perspective.
The Environment
As far as it comes to working environments, my work place is pretty lax. I don't find myself super bogged down with work nor do I find myself working crazy hours or overtime which is stereotypical with Japanese work culture. I do, however put in about 1 hour of overtime everyday to try and get some extra pocket cash since base salary for new hires are pretty low as it would be nice to have a little extra spending cash for if/when I need it.
The People
The people are generally nice and I am fortunate to be in a fairly friendly team as we like to joke around from time to time while working. There are other small subteams in the group which aren't as lively so I am rather happy about that.
But having a little fun aside, I think there are some communication issues in the sense that there isn't a lot of it happening. I find the people in my team to be kind of in their own little world when it comes to work. I hardly hear from other people about what they really are doing aside from the things presented in the meetings (and simply attending meetings to learn is a terrible way to learn).
I also find that people tend to be quite unresponsive when it comes to new ideas. I've made some presentations on some ideas about what might be nice from time to time but usually it ends into either "we'll look into it" or "ok that seems interesting" and ends at that. For a company that is supposed to be about technological innovation, just passing up ideas or not acting on them is a sign of creative death. It also shows from the kinds of products they've been recently putting out... all of them are totally behind when it comes to the technological revolution curve.
On job satisfaction
Job satisfaction for me is directly related to the amount of inspiration I can derive from my work. Unfortunatly, I am not at all inspired by my work. After condisering what I do and what we are making, I don't see it as a leap forward in technology and at the same time, I am not finding a lot of interesting new ways of doing my job because I need to find a way to make time and get resources to do what I want to do (hence forth I am working on becoming very good with very cheap resources).
The other problem is sort of a lack of fresh and beautiful ideas. I've spoken with people from time to time and I don't feel a vibe of creative energy or vision. It kind of sucks when I have a lot of things that I want to try or do and have no one to talk with about it... or no good source of interesting ideas.
The company is a big place and there are probably lots of people that I haven't met yet that might be really interesting people. But from the people I've met so far, I don't know; something is missing.
A few days ago, I form was sent out to me and to the other new recruits to prepare a form as a sort of a review of their work place, what the environment is like, what we do, personal satisfaction with the job and any other sort of comments that might help us do our job better.
The form needs to be submitted next week and the new recruits are going get together for some kind of meeting with the HR people. So I am going to take this time to write my own review of the year to help me put things into perspective.
The Environment
As far as it comes to working environments, my work place is pretty lax. I don't find myself super bogged down with work nor do I find myself working crazy hours or overtime which is stereotypical with Japanese work culture. I do, however put in about 1 hour of overtime everyday to try and get some extra pocket cash since base salary for new hires are pretty low as it would be nice to have a little extra spending cash for if/when I need it.
The People
The people are generally nice and I am fortunate to be in a fairly friendly team as we like to joke around from time to time while working. There are other small subteams in the group which aren't as lively so I am rather happy about that.
But having a little fun aside, I think there are some communication issues in the sense that there isn't a lot of it happening. I find the people in my team to be kind of in their own little world when it comes to work. I hardly hear from other people about what they really are doing aside from the things presented in the meetings (and simply attending meetings to learn is a terrible way to learn).
I also find that people tend to be quite unresponsive when it comes to new ideas. I've made some presentations on some ideas about what might be nice from time to time but usually it ends into either "we'll look into it" or "ok that seems interesting" and ends at that. For a company that is supposed to be about technological innovation, just passing up ideas or not acting on them is a sign of creative death. It also shows from the kinds of products they've been recently putting out... all of them are totally behind when it comes to the technological revolution curve.
On job satisfaction
Job satisfaction for me is directly related to the amount of inspiration I can derive from my work. Unfortunatly, I am not at all inspired by my work. After condisering what I do and what we are making, I don't see it as a leap forward in technology and at the same time, I am not finding a lot of interesting new ways of doing my job because I need to find a way to make time and get resources to do what I want to do (hence forth I am working on becoming very good with very cheap resources).
The other problem is sort of a lack of fresh and beautiful ideas. I've spoken with people from time to time and I don't feel a vibe of creative energy or vision. It kind of sucks when I have a lot of things that I want to try or do and have no one to talk with about it... or no good source of interesting ideas.
The company is a big place and there are probably lots of people that I haven't met yet that might be really interesting people. But from the people I've met so far, I don't know; something is missing.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
And now the US Republicans care about inflation!?
Politics generally make me sick, because it's usually about chest thumping and making one's self look good and by pretending to care about constituents when it's really about caring for their own asses.
I saw a youtube clip today of republican Dan Burton complaining about the devaluation of the US dollar and how he managed to get contacted by some Chinese representative that they were worried about the devaluation of treasury bonds they held.
How else should I put it other than that this one terribly big bullshit act.
A Sense of Perspective
Let me be blunt. It was the Republican government that put the US into a huge debt into the first place by the Iraq war and then dishing out bailouts for the banks in when the financial crisis came out. And now that they have just lost the house to the Democrats that they want to complain about spending too much and the devaluation of the US dollar!?
Where were the calls for prudence when it came to deficit spending when the Republicans were in power? The only one Republican that cared dearly about excessive government spending was Ron Paul, who had little support from his colleagues when we was trying to reign in big deficit spending.
It makes me sick at how quickly some politicians change the tune of their song.
If politicians were paid in proportion to their level of approval, most of them would probably be broke.
I saw a youtube clip today of republican Dan Burton complaining about the devaluation of the US dollar and how he managed to get contacted by some Chinese representative that they were worried about the devaluation of treasury bonds they held.
How else should I put it other than that this one terribly big bullshit act.
A Sense of Perspective
Let me be blunt. It was the Republican government that put the US into a huge debt into the first place by the Iraq war and then dishing out bailouts for the banks in when the financial crisis came out. And now that they have just lost the house to the Democrats that they want to complain about spending too much and the devaluation of the US dollar!?
Where were the calls for prudence when it came to deficit spending when the Republicans were in power? The only one Republican that cared dearly about excessive government spending was Ron Paul, who had little support from his colleagues when we was trying to reign in big deficit spending.
It makes me sick at how quickly some politicians change the tune of their song.
If politicians were paid in proportion to their level of approval, most of them would probably be broke.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Scalable systems and businesses
If you want to make lots of money, learning about scalable systems and businesses are a must. Making a profitable business is one thing, but setting up a condition where your business can grow to an indefinite size is completely another problem, and often a very overlooked problem.
The biggest advancements in human productivity (and at the same time, wealth) has always involved the development of scalable systems. Starting from the development of the printing press, the industrial process and onwards to the information revoution, all of these are examples of the ability productivity and profits to an arbitrary large size. The only limiation preventing infinite scaling is demand.
The biggest businesses bringing in the biggest revenues are the ones that have scaled the most easily. The finance sector is perhaps the most easiest to scale as you don't really have to produce anything and profits come in from lending other people's money. Software is another good example with the birth of Microsoft as the technology to make copies of software is arbitrary small and disks and CDs being fairly easy to distribute. Finally, companies like Google and Amazon have been able to take advantage of the scalability of the internet to do business with arbitrary large numbers of people.
What can't be scaled, and revenues at the same time, are things that are directly limited to your capacity to produce or do something. In other words, it's highly unlikely that anyone living on the productivity of their own manual labor will become very rich.
Suppose that someone opened a small burger stall somewhere. The maximum amount of money a person making and selling burgers is generally limited by their individual capacity to produce burgers. Should they work in their position for their entire life, it is much less likely that they will be able to make large amounts of money.
Suppose now that the burger flipper is now able to hire people to flip burgers, and let's assume that the burgers this stall makes is exceptionally good that demand is very high. All he would have to do is hire sufficient numbers of people to make his trademark burgers thus scaling his output and revenues at the same time. None of this would be possible had he remained a cook his entire life.
The equation for the amount of money that you should be able to pull in should be:
total revenue = profitability*scalability
Now all you need to find is something that is both very profitable and scalable as a business.
The biggest advancements in human productivity (and at the same time, wealth) has always involved the development of scalable systems. Starting from the development of the printing press, the industrial process and onwards to the information revoution, all of these are examples of the ability productivity and profits to an arbitrary large size. The only limiation preventing infinite scaling is demand.
The biggest businesses bringing in the biggest revenues are the ones that have scaled the most easily. The finance sector is perhaps the most easiest to scale as you don't really have to produce anything and profits come in from lending other people's money. Software is another good example with the birth of Microsoft as the technology to make copies of software is arbitrary small and disks and CDs being fairly easy to distribute. Finally, companies like Google and Amazon have been able to take advantage of the scalability of the internet to do business with arbitrary large numbers of people.
What can't be scaled, and revenues at the same time, are things that are directly limited to your capacity to produce or do something. In other words, it's highly unlikely that anyone living on the productivity of their own manual labor will become very rich.
Suppose that someone opened a small burger stall somewhere. The maximum amount of money a person making and selling burgers is generally limited by their individual capacity to produce burgers. Should they work in their position for their entire life, it is much less likely that they will be able to make large amounts of money.
Suppose now that the burger flipper is now able to hire people to flip burgers, and let's assume that the burgers this stall makes is exceptionally good that demand is very high. All he would have to do is hire sufficient numbers of people to make his trademark burgers thus scaling his output and revenues at the same time. None of this would be possible had he remained a cook his entire life.
The equation for the amount of money that you should be able to pull in should be:
total revenue = profitability*scalability
Now all you need to find is something that is both very profitable and scalable as a business.
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