Edit* I've been asked to provide full screen and higher quality with my video so I have added links to HQ full screen vids. Also I created a channel with older vids HERE.
I'm going to start doing weekly posts because normally when I have internet I'm working and blogging at work is not the best thing to do when you're trying to represent your school and department.
This week however has been a great deal of fun. Both because of the 10-14 hour work days and enjoying dinner with friends and side families. I must say it's really a great environment the one I work in. All of the master and PHD students are really motivated and passionate about their work. It makes me more into mine and a lot more energized about working long days to challenge myself on learning things. We have a very funny poster in our lab that describes just this.
Its called "academic life" goes as following:
1. New Topic
2. Confusion
3. Confusion
4. Frustration
5. Loss of hope
6. Epiphany
7. Development
8. Realization
9. Repeat
But every new topic brings a bounty of new ideas and applications.
As for what progress I've been doing. For the rocket program I finished my part of the work, Gogino and I just need to do the final testing and we can put that project behind us. I also started working on the Prosthetic. I'm really glad I did work with Free RTOS at the UW because I'm working with a Real Time OS called Xenomia. My job is to first begin with getting the tele-metrics of the prosthetic to the computer I'm using and then begin what I described on my earlier post.
Also this week Dr. Lourdes came to the lab and talked to me about a few administrative topics. Firstly, we agreed that I will splitting my weeks work between UnB and UnB Gamma. I'll be working at both schools. Using what I've learned at both the UW and UnB to help in research. I was given two choices however, and I'm still pondering what to decide.
My main reason for coming here was a project related to power conversion for rural areas. However, to me energy is more of a hobby than something I may want to consider long term. My real interests is in controls and robotics, especially in intelligent prosthetics. For that reason I've been working with Dr. Geovany. Now I have a choice. Should I work on the energy problem or on Lourdes offer of a foot prosthetic. It would correlate well with UnB's leg prosthetic and help a lot with my research work at the UW. Both projects now have teams and are about to start. The power one could lead into going to the Amazon which would be great but the prosthetics one would have me learning some PHD level topics like Fuzzy Logic. Currently, with my research to process signals and turn them into fine movements I have been using a statistical method. It was the only approach I new at the time and has worked well. Fuzzy Logic + Kalman Filters (PHD and masters level type work) I believe would be the missing link needed to get the research I've been doing at the UW with the prosthetic arm fully completed. These two topics could be used to greatly increase the accuracy, finesse, and fluidity of a prosthetic.
Its a tough choice; fun in the jungle or possibly find the last piece of the puzzle I've been working on at the UW.
Along with those projects I'm also going to be taking a class at the UnB Gamma at 8 am in the morning, Mondays and Wednesdays. Dr. Lourdes teaches a class and she wanted me to attend. I'm really enjoying how they are keeping me busy, teaching me new things, and continually asking me to apply what I know. Overall its been a very rewarding experience :)
Along with this post I'm also putting a video of our lab and some projects we are working on. This includes the projects that I was suppose to blog about but did not have enough time to get to.
Gurgels Family:
Well I was invited to dinner at Laras house for dinner once more :)
Good to hear I didn't scare them off after my first visit. It was a great meal with a lot of military professionals. I don't quite remember all their names but it was good food and times. Oh and they had Guava Juice, tasty :). Its always great being with the Gurgels and Silvas because they always treat me like family.
B-Day:
This same week was Lara's Dads Birth day, we went to a Tapioca place. This is nothing like we think tapioca is. Instead it's a flat white tortilla thing that they put meat, cheese, syrup, bananas, really anything (even chocolate). It was quite delicious but for the meat and cheese variety, mexican corn tortillas still are the best. Also got into a debate on toothpick use. It was great times and lots of laughs.
Tata's family was also there, and it was all you can eat YUM!
Fancy Date:
So my labmates decided to take me out on a fancy date to a place called Mangai(sorry to disappoint if you excepted a saucy date with a brazilian girl). This place was really nice. Right next to water front and the view of the bridge as a background.
As we walked in we saw a lot of northeastern artisan work and real bananas hanging on the walls.
The food was, like Meredas, by the kilo. Only the variety was twice as large and the quality was much higher. I was instructed not to take photos of the food area, but believe me it was grand.
This place was so nice even the bathrooms were fancy. They seem innocent at first, just a slightly adorned door.
But don't be fooled. This place is so fancy you pee on ice. Fresh ice at that.
So fresh you can feel the coolness of the ice from the urinal. But wait it gets better, washing your hands also has to be fancy. Your hands must also feel the coolness of fresh ice, while warm water runs on your hands, all the while smelling a hint of cinnamon.
It's similar to when you drive with the heat on max(hitting a cinnamon air freshener) and the windows are down.
Well after Epic-ly using the bathroom, we all got some of the best food I've eaten in Brazil and began the feast!
At our lab we usually grab lunch early, which is a great thing because when we left the entire place was full and the line was nearly out the door.
Taking advantage of the view Gagino and I took a photo.
Saturday:
Today at the lab while I was blogging and Pi was working, we decided to get Acarajé. Traditional food of Bahia. But I'll let the video do the explaining.
Saturday Night:
Little Bearded guy however, ate subway the Brazilian style. He got a Subway melt with extra cheese and bacon with no veggies. Took the healthy out of Subway. I was making fun of it since when we choose food he said he wanted to eat something healthy so he is going to Subway. When I saw what he got I just laughed and told him it's the same thing as my burger only longer. Beef, cheese and bacon. But at least mine had a slice of lettuce.
We were about to head back to the lab when one of little bearded guy's(LBG) friends called him. She wanted to watch Ice Age 3 in 3-D. Seeing how we were already there we said yes. This was also my first 3-D movie.
(LBG, Marian and Marco <- Not sure if these names are correct will check)
This is when I learned about how much Brazilians love lines. Getting a ticket was a long line, getting in was a long line and all over the food court there was long lines. LBG told me that a Brazilian joke is that when a brazilian sees two people standing next to each other. The one seeing them will get in line behind them not knowing what the line is for. Or even if it's a line.
(standing in line Brazilian style)
After the movie which I only understood about half since it was in Portuguese and they spoke way to fast(still laughed the whole time :) great film). We decided to go to a restaurant and chat it up so we can all get to know each other(we also met with other friends so they joined us). We got some drinks, food and played a game were you play with toothpicks. Mainly Because in brazil tooth picks are not for chewing or picking your tooth(you would think toothpick(TP) would be self explanatory). Its thought of as rude to pick your teeth. They said it was for picking up food. I told them thats what forks are for. Forks are 4 times better than a tooth pick(since they have 4 prongs and a TP is a prong) and reusable.
Furthermore, I guess a fairly normal thing to do when hanging out is to smoke huuka. So they smoked huuka while we all talked and ate food.
Then Pi saw a play ground. LBG who we also call hijo, which means son in spanish, took some quality father son time and I pushed him on a swing and played on the seesaw.
(Doesn't my Hijo look so happy hahaha)
We all had a great time and called it a night.
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