Empire State of Mind / Microsoft Interview Experience

Okay, so I'm not very good at this blog thing.

Seasons change, people come in and out, and you sit there one day driving and thinking, "Wow, life is good."

It's true though! I've been hanging out with Dan, Ian, and Mikey this winter break, and it's been fruitful. We would stay up really late talking, playing video games, or driving around, and then I would wake up cutting the day in half, which always makes the days blur together. That's the part I dislike the most, though. I feel like I'm a morning person, and I wake up just too damn late to enjoy having the whole day to do things.

I'm having a beer here and reflecting on the past couple of months. First, let me say that this break has been very eventful and uneventful at the same time. Perhaps we'll cut it in half. The first half of my break was enjoying the flashing lights, yellow taxis, and glamor and broadway musicals in New York City with my family. We took a week off of our seem

ingly busy schedules once Dan and I got out of school and wanted to see what NYC was all about. Plenty of pictures to show, too!

So firstly, I just want to point out that Dan loves to sleep in the car. Secondly, I took it upon myself to document our travels and adventures as much as I could because when we look back on our trip, we can (almost) re-live it and laugh about it. The deal was to spend the last week in December in New York staying at the Hilton Timeshare hotel on West 57th and 6th, which by the way was a gorgeous place to stay. On Christmas eve, the Barrenecheas drove down south to Philly to visit my Dad's sister (godmother) and her family and celebrate Christmas with them. We had a blast hanging out with our cousin, Monique and it was really nice seeing my dad's mother, Mamama (that's what you call her!). But you can't really let go of New York once you leave it. Christmas was well spent, but the days surrounding it were fun-filled and adventurous. On Christmas night, we took Mamama and headed back to New York City, where the remainder of the week was spent living it up, "classy" of course. Mamama was around :)

At the hotel, Dan and I had our room to ourselves, and the gym there was decent enough to exercise every other day! Other than that and the owner's lounge that we popped our heads in for happy hour, we were constantly out and about on the streets, looking for eateries, electronic stores, broadway musicals, and any attractions that sparkled our eyes.

Times Square was a fantastic eyesight. So much color and lights everywhere! As we were racing across streets and avenues to participate in a ticket sweepstakes for the hit 80's glamour rock musical Rock of Ages (thank you Stephanie!), I took some pictures and videos of the city scene and various other important sights (Strawberry Fields forever). Moments during the scrumptious feasts that we had are also documented clearly. We'll remember them for a long time.

So that's enough about that.

Fast-forward to January 4th. This was a solo mission, and I enjoyed every moment of it, except maybe the part when I didn't get the job offer from Microsoft! That was a hard pill to swallow.

However, few could survive the impending phone interview and get the chance to fly to Seattle and engage in a second-round hands-on candidate interview on Microsoft campus. I'm proud of that.

Discovering Seattle on my own was probably half the fun. I kept a close eye on all the receipts to be reimbursed and I traveled without worry. I picked up the Toyota Corolla at SeaTac airport and drove with wide eyes to the Hilton hotel in Bellevue, a neighboring city of Seattle and Redmond. These wimps don't know how to drive! On the second day, I brushed myself off well and drove in to the Microsoft campus in Redmond eager for my match with the developers who were going to interview me. Turns out I was interviewed by the Microsoft Visio team, not the Windows Internet Explorer team! That was a bit of a shock, but that didn't discourage me at all. I had readily prepared for my target team, but I wasn't willing to show distaste that they had shifted me to another team. I stuck to my game and met with three developers in Studio 36.

In retrospect, I look back at the interviews and pick out where I might have gone sour, but I'm usually not successful. I thought I did really well on all three, and I was optimistic about the results, but when I had received the heart-wrenching regret email, I had to swallow hard. That was a ball-buster.

But you move on! You move on to the next big challenge. You don't sulk in self-pity or self-criticism. Just pick up your feet and keep running. Keep pushing the envelope.

Thank you guys for being such a big support for my future. I really appreciate all that you have done to encourage and cheer me on. You guys are the best.

More on the winter break later.

Autumn/CS320/Porcupine Tree at HOB

Autumn is here!

Every now and then, I take a look at Abe's blog and see how he's doing. It's so remarkable to me how he just vanished into another foreign country and living life the best that he can. Check out his pictures on Facebook; Alexandria is so breathtaking, it's amazing. Miss you man!

But we're all just doing our own thing. I am taking this course called CMPSCI320: Introduction to Software Engineering, and it's demanding to say the least, not because of the workload, but because I'm on a team with nine or ten other guys working together to create software for a real audience.

Here's the deal: The class is broken down into three teams, Team A, B, and T. While Team A and B are both development teams, software development theory in textbooks strongly claim that more than 50% of total man hours and resources are allocated to Testing, so Team T (Testing team) is divided into two groups, one that works with Team A and the other with B.

We are under a HUGE semester-long project to design and develop Medical History Solicitation software for a Pharmacist from Franklin and Bay State Medical Centers and a Nurse from the UMass Nursing school. This is a pretty big deal! Or, at least it seems that way, doesn't it? The class is meant to teach you by doing, not just by learning software theory from assigned reading. Professor Osterweil leads by example when he tells stories about his days in consulting huge software companies and the problems that they encounter during the development process. He's an awesome professor, by the way.

Anyway, I'm the Database Team Manager for Company A, and I'm working with three guys to make sure we're on track with our portion of the project, but it's stressful because you have to communicate to be heard (Thank you Mrs. Harbridge) and work with other people to meet deadlines and expectations. It's not easy, not one bit.

Last Sunday (the 27th of September), Viada and company headed out into Boston, got lost, and soaked up the deliciousness of Porcupine Tree Live at the House of Blues!! I kick myself for not taking any pictures that night, but the band appreciated our cooperation with not taking any form of media during the concert, which I do respect. Still, the concert was just drop-dead amazing and the best I have ever seen them perform. However, the original plan had changed on us; we were determined to meet and greet them in Newbury Comics in the afternoon, but because we were late and had no sense of direction (save Myrelle's GPS on her phone!) and given that one of the band members wasn't feeling so good, we just missed them. Damn! We hung around Newbury Comics, I had my small pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks, traveled and lingered around the Hemp store for a while, and then enjoyed awesome square pizza at a local pizza pub (Can't remember the name). It was a great day because we had Mikey, Alex, Myrelle, and Alex Andreosantos with us, and we all hung around Newbury street until the final hour before the concert started.

But yes, life moves on, and we're all back at work. Dan and I are going home this upcoming weekend to take care of Missy girl while the parents leave for business trips around the world. Call us up! We'll be jamming in the basement.

Haha.

Longtime / Gearing Up

It has certainly been a long time!

Back in august, when I was playing Halo 3 with Cameron Allen and Abe Katz on the Xbox 360, they were talking about blogs, which I guess had made me think about my own. And there are so many things that I would like to put on it, but at the same time, there are so many thoughts and feelings I'd like to keep my own.

This summer has been full of progress. I can best describe it as a bittersweet moment in my life. I take a look back at things I've done, and I chuckle a little. I'm so frickin young! What's the point on getting so serious about thoughts and feelings all the time? I really like those realizations. They make me feel grounded and at home. And embarrassed. When I arrived home from UMass last semester, I felt grounded. My family was here beside me. Learning all that you can from college and returning back home gives me a satisfaction of looking back at my accomplishments from a distance and being proud of them.

On the other hand, being at home from college for three months was a time to look forward. I saw three months of working hard, diligence, and (above all) patience. I worked for a massive company called BAE Systems under the Sensor Systems Engineering team working with simulation applications. That was exciting! INROADS sought to grab me from a couple of weekends during the summer for professional development, so I drove to Boston at times when I felt most vulnerable, and I enjoyed the warmth of my friends there; that made me feel reassuring. What was even more reassuring was the enjoyment I got out of singing with nine other guys and raising nearly three thousand dollars with proceeds going to the American Cancer Society! Viva la BoroughTones! Of course, the warmth from your closest friends, no matter how far or near they may be, is always a reassuring feeling when trouble runs through my mind.

What a summer!

At BAE Systems, I learned a lot about following through with work, the idea of Innovation and how important it is, and the value of hard work. Still, there's so much to do! I want to learn so much more that's out there because I know there are so many opportunities that I want to leverage. This upcoming semester at UMass is going to be ROCK SOLID. Here's the schedule:

1) CMPSCI 320: Introduction to Software Engineering (4)
2) Honors Colloquium 320H: Supplement to CMPSCI 320 (1)
3) CMPSCI 377: Introduction to Operating Systems (4)
4) CMPSCI 305: Social Issues in Computing (3)
5) CMPSCI 197U: Hands-On with UNIX (1)
6) CMPSCI 397PC: Problem Solving and the ACM Programming Contest (1)
7) Research with Ben Ransford and Kevin Fu! (3)

Total = 17 credits. Perfect.

What Research? I'll try to explain what I know so far.

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags are ubiquitous to the information age society we all live in. From credit cards containing sensitive information to embedded devices like toll-paying transponders (Fast-Lane) in your car, these devices can be interrogated from a nearby RFID reader to acquire serial numbers for identifying people or products. Take, for example, the laptop shelves at the local Best Buy. There's been a lot of talk going around about embedding EPC (Electronic Product Code - a spinoff of RFID technology) devices into electronic products so that retail stores can readily keep track of inventory stock.

Professor Fu and company (the PRISMS lab @ UMass CS) have released much academic work on these RFID tags that can do more than just simply "identify" things; they are able to actually perform computation. What does that mean? A computational RIFD tag (known as "CRFID" tags) can actually do something useful or additional instead of simply providing a serial number which recognizes an HP laptop at Best Buy. That's all I know so far, so I have a lot to catch up on.

Swing into Spring

Oops, let me change the light in here.

:)

In the Ache of Winter

Rejection is just as natural as Success. The only difference between them is that you need rejection to appreciate success.

Already, this spring semester has opened up a lot of opportunity for me to challenge myself mentally, socially, emotionally, and physically. Mentally, I'm always increasing my capacity to learn, breaking layers and layers of shells that are beyond my level of comfort. Having classes that engage me and entice me only motivate me to learn and work hard. The level of opportunity you can find in the Computer Science building on 141 Governor's drive is astounding; everyone wants to get their hands on some research.

Socially, I'm learning to "deal" with people, as the saying goes. I'm dealing with people I love, I'm dealing with people I know, and I'm dealing with people I meet and are acquainted with. It's no surprise to mention that people are all different and come from different places in your life, and the whereabouts and (whenabouts) with which you come together at a specific point in time is just another page in our lives, and another character to share. Fortifying friendships, building relationships, and revisiting relations all come into play in my social shell. The trick is to balance them all on your head.

Emotionally, the climb is worth the prize. Being a partner in a relationship means more responsibility. Although much of loving someone can be so natural (because it's one of our closest, native feelings), it requires thinking, working hard at building lines of communication with your partner. It's a long process. A lot of the time, frustration and anger can swell and burst, but we know that resolution follows. That's what I've been working on here. Emotionally, I have been trying to show my partner that she matters, that she is my friend, and that she makes me a better person. Emotionally, I have been breaking shells.

Physically, I'm a toss-up. I'm trying to get my time into the gym, but work prevails, and irrevocably, that's more important than lifting or running. It's okay, though. I just got to remember to ignore the peanut butter chocolate cake at the DC :)

So, we all carry on with our own lives, noting that we're changing from time to time. We can describe our revelations as infrequent, occasional, and sometimes unusual. It doesn't really matter in the end. That we can become aware and understand how our body and mind are changing as we go on with our routines tells us that we're traveling in the right direction.

And trust me, I know I'm traveling in the right direction.

Take my Hand

Come and share this moment.
Come and share this memory.
Come and share this moment.
Watch the stars fade into day.

Take my Hand...

Eurotrip / La Viada

The plan is to leave on the 31st of December and make a stop at Philadelphia to complete the trip overseas via Paris, France. I will meet Nassim at the Charles de Gaulle and then stay at his grandparents' house in the heart of Paris, blocks away from the metro. 

From there, we have crafted as follows:

January 1-4 (Through First Weekend): Paris and neighboring points of interest in France.

January 4-8 (First Full Week): Travel up to Brussell, Belgium; visit my family from Mother's side; visit Guillaume and Roemaet Family.

January 8-11 (Latter Half of Week): To Amsterdam and the Heineken Brewery!

January 11-13 (Second Full Week): To Frankfurt and Germany; visit more family from Mother's side; visit Berlin!

January 13-17 (Latter Half of Week): Finish off the trip by traveling south and passing through Switzerland's chocolate, and then staying in Milano, Italy until the overnight to our return to Paris.

January 18-19 (Last days in Europe): Jetlag.

This is going to be a great kickoff to the new year. I have never experienced Europe on my own, and this is my opportunity to learn as much as I can about the second half of the world that I've been thirsting to see.

-------

Last practice, we burst into a couple of songs that have began to take shape in the hands of both Dan and Ian during their first Fall semester. One of these songs has quickly become a symbol for defining how we have come to form the sound we have grown to appreciate together. We have named this song "La Viada".

"La Viada" opens with a beautiful and mysterious melody that the lead guitar and bass guitar complete together. It's a story that is told by having a call-and-response function to emphasize a strong, successful layer of communication created by musicians alike. Consequently, the sounds produced by these two instruments are harmonious, and the melody lifts off above common time, ignoring usual time structure and instead indicating uncertainty in the direction of the song. The suspenseful yet melodic questions these two instruments bring up in their time alone also suggests that level of uncertainty in the air, which lingers on until the lead guitar introduces a deep, minor and depressing segue that opens the song in another dimension. 

The song itself contains many passages that give off so much uncertainty as to where it's going to go and how it's going to get there, but all that becomes clear when the drums pound away at a 4/4 meter pulse that dramatically changes the mood of the song. The haunting yet almost hopeful phrase, "The light is coming" conjures the bass and the lead to fill the void into a linear drive (i.e., like a linear progression) that ultimately dominates the second half of "La Viada".

This linear progression goes to show the listener just how much we've gone back in time. This drive serves as a time-traveling device, a means to travel back and show everyone where we have come from. The unconventional, yet tacky consistency of the pounding drums pulls them away from the foreground and brings out the guitar solo as Dan works on stimulating his greatest influences including David Gilmour, Joe Satriani, a little bit of Santana, and countless others. It sounds all too unfamiliar in relation to our repertoire, yet it is a breathtaking diversion into the past, where 60's and 70's rock music still has a grapple on the teenagers of our generation, and the viada that came from our hard work thus far reaches its hand backwards from the precious influences that has never been lost. The bass drives away at an impulsive phrase that reflects the groove of the drums, and the exemption of voices pulls away at the experimentation of the keyboards and synthesized sounds, also indiciating at the sounds that we remember 30 years ago. The end product is a passage that mirrors a bit of Porcupine Tree linearity and fuses that with a touch of head-heel musicianship by incorporating a raw, ever-growing intensity. That head-heel musicianship just goes to show how unpredictably confident we can feel about the direction of our music.

"The light is coming" refers to the coming of our age, the dawn of our generation and the music driving it. As we confront the listener directly with the change in direction, so we travel together with that listener and show him/her the path we are taking with our music. So, in fact, "La Viada" is the careful example we have chosen to show all of our listeners that we respect the music before, during, and after us, and we are not afraid to understand the uncertainty behind the future of our lives and what it has in store for us. We are also determined to demonstrate the root of the music that has affected our own and will affect the music that will come after us.

Then, of course, "La viada" is the momentum through time with which we have only a specific time frame for the delivery of our own influence in music history.