Job? uh...no.

So to keep this blog accurate I must retract my former excitement about getting a job. Apparently the Engineer wanted an assembler rather than an Engineer. I was overqualified, so now my prospects are pulling weeds, or tutoring a troubled 11 year old girl for two hours per week. I refuse to pull weeds; I'd rather starve. No, not really, but the rest of my life has been in an upward trajectory such that I hate to see such a setback. I have such knowledge that I feel omniscient yet they want 'just enough'.

So I'm going to see if I can get the Chinese to sell me a pirated copy of ProE so I can educate myself and get a job. With what shall I purchase it? Hmmm. I have 35c in my bank account and an eBay giftcard with 9c on it. Can you spare any change? please send it to:

Rabbit Killer
109 Madrona Rd.
Felton, CA 95019

p.s. write checks payable to 'Leif Husman' ; that's my slave name. All proceeds will go to making the world a better place. Promise.

rrrrrr! Save my fields!

I just spent 7 precious minutes updating my profile on 'orkut' which is google's social networking site. I navigate to a different tab and then save and poof! all my fields go blank with nothing updated. Well that's just frustrating :-( the most frustrating thing ever! I'm taking my social networking elsewhere. Who is on orkut anyway?

Doing vs. Teaching

I found out a couple weeks ago that my dream of teaching science to kids is virtually unattainable for four years. I took it in stride, but I realized I would need to do something in the meantime. I am taking computer classes (Linux, Perl, anything that's offered at Cabrillo), hoping I could do something with that. Whatever I do, I don't want to be underemployed...
So I got a job yesterday [yay!] and my only goal in doing so was to gain financial independence. Maybe I have issues, but it hurts to always have to ask for every little scrap of anything.
My job, however, is more than this. I have a chance to work for a small engineering firm (I am the only employee) and work as much as I want as an Engineer. I can just weld and assemble parts for $12 per hour or I can engineer systems for electric cars and be more than a minion.
This kind of open-ended potential is daunting. I [re]discovered while digging through the dirt that I am more comfortable with not giving my full effort and being satisfied with mediocrity. I resolved to not be satisfied with this. When I was younger I thought of Life as something that happened in the future, and Now was just preparation for that. Some 15 years later I am still having to make decisions. I can be trapped in elementary physics for the rest of my life, or I can go further and solve bigger problems...
When I put it like that it seems obvious. But teaching our children well is very important... I will be the best Engineer I can be and in a few years I will re-evaluate my life and see where humanity needs me.

Korg Part 2

I now have a fully functioning Korg Delta!!
I got it about a month ago and I was very dismayed to find it only partially functioning. Four of the five function generators were shot and the octave balance in the strings section was scratchy. Well, I downloaded the service manual, disassembled the keyboard, desoldered the malfunctioning components, contacted Mouser Electronics and found replacements, waited...

... Soldered the replacement parts in, put it back together and fired it up.

I'll post pictures below, and detailed notes to anyone of you with questions.

Oh, and thanks to the good people at sci.electronics.basic for all their helpful advice.

http://www.archive.org/download/KorgPentatonic/KorgPent.wma

http://www.archive.org/download/KorgBminor/Korg5.wma