Monday, November 30, 2009

A new hope

Internship...been waiting for this since few semester ago. I still remember that day when us computer engineers were discussing about our working place like...where are we gonna apply. Penang? or KL? Penang = KL, so why Penang? A taste of a diff lifestyle? Nahh, they're similiar. Anyways, I've been hanging out with some of my ex-form 6 buddies frm seafield. The so called "gathering" wasn't a gathering at all haha. Pretty small group...but it's cool hhaa. By mid dec, I should be seeing most of you guys d. No alasan!

DSC00123
Jen Chong, Chun Hwa & Ming Han

DSC00129
Koshy, Wai Ling, Pek Yee, Cha She and I

DSC00120

DSC00127



My emo moments:

People say "I just don't get it. People keep coming in and out of my life". I didn't really bother about that sentence because I personally think it's part of life. Everything seems normal until I realize I'm actually part of it already. Well, sometimes my mind insists on doing things that I should do...but my heart keeps telling me this; "Dude, wht's the point of it? Stop wasting your time". I've made up my mind. Listen to your heart. For when shit happens, it's has already been expected. Therefore, the damage is a lot lesser...and the healing takes place way quicker. Rest in peace...my heart and soul. For when the time comes, we will meet once more ~~


List of things to do. Just a few of them. The rest...is up to u to find out :)

  1. Meet new people. Regain my social life which I've isolated for almost 2 months back.
  2. Do good. I've been a "No Man" for quite some time. It's time for a change
  3. ------- To be revealed in 4 months time --------

Saturday, November 28, 2009

I'm done :)

I'm back! And this time, I'll be back for about 4 solid months. But sad to say, it's not a 100% holiday thingy cause I'll be doing my internship somewhere in Bukit Bintang area. Will be working just like any other ordinary people. Will be stuck in traffic jams and congested train stations. It is just about time for me to enter into the real working environment. How cool is that?!


IMGP5184

IMGP5188


Went out with my parents to Summit today. Sister was wondering about the amount of Adidas bags carried by so many people. There must be something ON today! Guess what? Adidas factory outlet store is selling all its merchandise at 80% discount. I wasn't keen at first cause there were so many people queuing outside the shop. It's like crazy man! Not my kinda thing to rush and find something nice then cabut. The main reason I waited = I needed a sport shoe badly haha. There's only 2 price tags: RM120 / RM200

The moment my sis and I entered, we went separate ways...searching for the most attractive shoe we can find. Damn ganas. Everyone was like grabbing 3-4 pairs of shoes. I quickly search for my size in the AdiPrem zone. Thank goodness I was able to grab a pair before it's all gone...in just minutes!

For the very first time, my family spent RM600 bucks on Adidas shoes alone! Lolz


Mine

IMGP5195
RM120 - AdiPrem sportwear

Superstar II
RM120 - Superstar II


Mom & Sis's

IMGP5194
RM120 each


Dad's


Porsche
RM120 - Adidas Porsche Design

Thursday, November 26, 2009

7 days

It has been almost a week since I finished my finals. Friends were going off & packing stuff...ready to get home as soon as possible, while we computer engineers had to stay for our final year project or better known as FYP. This FYP alone was not as hard as I expected. But, when problems and issues comes one after another...that's when the obstacles gets tougher. First of all, I'll start off with my project titled "FPGA-based Multi Level Parking Monitoring System".

Basically, this project helps users to reduce the amount of time spent in the parking lot, searching for a car park when there isn't one. More to like assisting the users in which parking basement has available parking space. I'll opened up a new post specifically for my project later.

Emotions and all started coming in throughout the FYP week. It was the last 7 days of our diploma before we have to present our project to the panels. All I did was pushing...pushing and pushing myself so hard...with one purpose = To complete the project. Every morning, I wake up as early as 7.30am...to catch the 8.30 bus to my FYP lab. Stayed there till 5pm. If there's no transport back to the hostel, I'll just hafta walk...which I actually did.

There are times when I feel like I couldn't go on. It was tiring, frustrating, mentally stressed up trying to troubleshoot my sensor circuit for about 3-4 hours. No time to relax. Thank goodness I made it. Out of 4 sensor circuits I've soldered, only 2 managed to produce the desired output.

IMGP5029
Infrared Transmitter & Receiver

IMGP5115
Modeling the project



The Finale:


The day I've been waiting for throughout this whole semester is here. The VIVA demonstration of your project. This day, each and everyone of us are to show your results of your FYP. No matter how bad it goes...you just have to show something. The list of presenters are as follows;

  1. Lim Foong Jien
  2. Marcus Koh Eu Zu
  3. Lee Yee Ann
I was 2nd on the list! Wtf!? And there's is only one FPGA board which is being used by my partner for his project. So when the panels came, I told them that we had to share one single board. One of the panels said "That's your problem!". I didn't wanna argue, so I just sighh...and told them to continue. After some discussion...they allowed me to buy some time while I fix up my project to the FPGA board. It was a sense of relieved!

IMG_0785
Kite the 1st presenter

IMG_0786
Me the 2nd presenter... I explain my reasons...


I fix my project as soon as I can. Sad to say that the whole system is behaving abnormally. It has to be either the circuitry of the wires, or the sensors itself. I tried to troubleshoot as much as I can. My partner's FPGA board had problems as well, so he asked whether he could use mine. As u know, my whole circuit is wired with the board...and to put them back again takes about 30mins or more.

I was in dilemma. It's the 9th presenter now, and I have tried my best trying to troubleshoot my project. They gave me more than enough time already. So, I decided to tell the panels to VIVA me after the 9th presenter. It was the only way...

IMG_0877
Explains the project to the panels...

IMG_0873
En. Nasir asking me about the system...


The project wasn't a failure. I could produce the perfect results the day before. I told them how the system is suffering. Bla bla bla... + confidence. I was able to answer most of the questions they throw at me...except for that one and only. He just keeps coming at me...expects me to produce a project as intelligent as the japanese or something. Other panels don't find it a problem... Anyways, I believe that they understood what I was saying.

IMG_0911


IMG_0836


The whole VIVA thingy ended at 8.30pm. Imagine how long we were there in the lab since 9.00am. Gila tired. Went to KFC for some good meal and chats + discussion about the whole FYP demo thingy.

IMG_0999
Safwan and I

Friday, November 20, 2009

I'm close to giving up...

Final year project (FYP) has given me more than enough stress and pressure like never before. I can't imagine that this FYP alone had cause my anxiety level to rise like hell. It went to the extent that I couldn't sleep well, neither I had a peace of my mind when I'm not at work. My current progress lies at 80% and looks like I'll get stuck dere till my presentation... I'm tired...just so tired...

I told my supervisor before that I wanted the FPGA-based Parking Monitoring System title so badly cause I had the motivation and enthusiasm to do it. "Sir, please change my topic with the parking system. I can do it sir!!!". I was overjoyed and excited when he allows me to do so.

One after another problem...it just keep on coming. 2 problems went down to 1...and from 1 went up to 3 problems.... No matter how hard I try, they just keep coming... sensors..sensors, what have I done wrong? How can 2 same circuits produce different outputs when none of the components are burn?!?!? Woke up as early as possible everyday...take the earliest bus to the lab....try to troubleshoot the problem... Sacrifices...and more sacrifices..

But since I have 3 more days to go... I'll just do my best because for my current situation....only a miracle/blessing or prayer can help me. So, do keep me prayer thank you :)

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Exams over!!!

Over...over omg I can't believe that I've finished my finals!! It has been suffering from the 3rd of November till the 13th, with sleepless nights + worry and some stress. Had some difficulties in studying though, cause most of us studied so much for the tests and lab tests already. More like refreshing our memories and reapplying it all over again. The mood to study wasn't there as well. But, I managed to put myself together and gave it my best shot. Just hope I'll be able to pass with flying colors.


Software Engineering - Our very 1st paper on the 3rd of November... It was lil tough but ok la. Still can goreng some facts inside. Correct or not = unknown haha. So basically what do I learn in this subject? Java programming, software terms, design models for software engineering and more. Mainly Java - The Object Oriented Programming.

IMGP5030



Next paper was Industrial Safety and Quality Management. This subject explain about safety in the industrial field. Why is it important to be safe? Kai Zen implementation tools for continuous improvements, Personal Protective Equipment, Pareto chart and more. Subject is pretty interesting haha.

IMGP5074
I need to get in as soon as possible!!

IMGP5073
Elvin revising at Dewan 2020

IMGP5075


3rd paper was Microcontroller II, which is the most toughest and hardest paper of all time in Computer Engineering Diploma. What's so difficult about this subject? Programming in C for interfacing the Microcontroller 8051 to external outputs such as PIA 8255, external ROM/RAM with larger memory spaces and etc. The programming itself is tedious, and in order for one to completely answer his questions...you'll need to understand almost everything about micro.c. Your basics in Digit and Micro.c I = perfect. O.O...gg la the paper hahaha

IMGP5085
"This paper is too easy!!!" =.='''

IMGP5080

IMGP5089
It has been done!!! Hahaha


Our final paper was Electronic Instrumentation and PLC. This subject is more electronics, like understanding what is a digital oscilloscope, what are amplifier and filters. How does these signal conditioning circuits improve the signal before feeding it into the ADC and etc... This paper also hard la wtf lolz. We were like..."Omg another Micro.c II paper" hahah. But it didnt bother us la. Since it's the last paper, just do your best la. Lepas tu... enjoy @#$%@&*(!!!!

IMGP5092

IMGP5097
The night after our final paper :D

Monday, November 2, 2009

I'm running out of time...

Busy busy busy. These words are stuck in my head for the past one week. My daily routine has burn me out...little by little. I'm starting to feel that I've lost too much time in the beginning of this semester. The end results are just as I am about to experience... "I wish I had more time". Anyways, life has been pretty hectic. I've been up late at night, rushing both final year project and finals at the same time. Every morning my roommate wakes up, I will automatically be awake. It's like a frigging trigger button or something which tells me that "It's time to study Marcus". Haha, Kite is my driving force. But, we have not been studying together lately.

Study week ain't a study week for me. I began touching my notes and slides on Friday. Thank goodness that I studied for my Test 2 and all. It does help me a lot to remember some definitions and facts. I didn't even step into the library this week! It's like the first time man!!! Zzz... FYP FYP. Just so you know that I will not be updating till the 13th of November. Gotta rush here and there...so wish me the best of luck in both finals and FYP. Do keep me in prayer, coz I will be needing it. Thanks :) Take care and God bless u.