Project O2 and A Break From Blogging

So, turns out I didn’t make the ISRO test. That kinda hit me hard. I am still trying to come to terms with it. I don’t know about the job, but it would have felt nice just to have cleared the test. But that didn’t happen. So now, instead I have to feel like shit. I know I am no Electronics God, but I know my basics and I can work out problems. I sure was rusty when I attended the test, having put no preparation in and that’s my fault. (It can attributed to a few other reasons too, but that’s not nice. It’s better to just accept it that you failed yourself.) What this also means is that I might have to now take up my Software job. The one last straw of hope I was clinging on to, is gone. That’s depressing isn’t it ?

Anyway, I have been given a project to work on. At least something to cheer about. It’s nothing great, but if I have to make it fully functional, I’ll have to work on it a bit. (Maybe not as much as my Final Year Project, but considerable amount of work.) The best thing is, I might get paid a token amount if I complete it properly and on time. So, I am trying to keep myself in better spirits.

That means except for the IPL posts which I have time stamped (just one line dumb posts), I don’t plan to blog for a while now. I would like to kick myself instead for being an a-hole and not doing my test well. So much for my Rocket Scientist dreams. Damn it!! 

Envelope Full of Air

Thanks to my bro for showing me this video. It’s awesome.

Project Report Done Sans Acknowledgement

Finally did my project report somehow and got it signed too. I didn’t include the acknowledgement. Can’t claim to have set a trend Just following the trend set by someone already there. It was questioned yes. I was asked why I did not include the acknowledgements. And later asked why I did not acknowledge even my parents or even God and what about the people that really helped me ? I usually reply with just a smile when I know anything I say will be used against me. So, then I was told how proud I was of myself. (???) Hell, yea. I am. I got away with it, didn’t I ?

But, thinking about it, I did want to acknowledge a few people and maybe I will stick a page inside now that I have gotten it signed. The only reason I didn’t include it in the first place was I did’nt want to be asked why I acknowledged certain people and did not acknowledge my guide and all that crap. Here are the people who helped me out:

Pradeep Kanthan (IV Mechanical) , C Karthik (IV Mechanical) for their immense help and patience with the mechanical model of my project. They made me a mechanical model for my requirements for which I was prepared to pay upto Rs.10,000 for almost one tenth of that price. Also, thanks to Karthik for helping me out with my CAD model. Thanks guys.

Shivakeshavan (My senior in college and currently working in IITM) for his patience in listening my problems out even when he was clearly bugged with it. He might not have spoon fed me or helped directly with anything in my project, but I am really thankful that he didn’t. You learn things only when you try and find solutions to the problems.

My brother, for his help with the electronics in my project.

Vibushan (IV CSE Amrita) and Vivek(IV CSE Amrita) for throwing light on databases and all that. Well, I did’nt end up doing what I wanted, but as Vibu puts it, “why are you (EEE guy) even working on/with databases ?” (Dawgs, thank your stars. Psst, I am not telling anyone how you let me down. )

Abhi, for help with the printouts.

And last but not the least, everyone else who hasn’t bothered asking me what I am doing and then chipping in with what they think about it. Thanks a lot, but I really didn’t want the spotlight, nor your opinion. ;) 

My Other PCB

Well, I had to check certain sequences on an LED arrangement and my breadboard(s) were already cluttered. So I decided to make yet another (pseudo) PCB with 16 LED’s in it. I can use it for testing and stuff. Just like the things we have in our Labs where we test Digital IC’s.

I had this one board lying around since my first semester when I used it to check the characteristics of diode and BJT’s. Sadly, only now I realised that it’s meant only for that. I had no tracks on the board. Which meant I had to use those many more wires. Dumb of me isn’t it ? Well, I decided to test my circuit at around 23:00 and by then the shops would be closed.

Anyway, this is how sad it looks. 

The Twin Boards

Sans Tracks

Testing Circuit

With Wires