Funding Proposal

Well, not much has happened this week, so I thought I would just copy the post I wrote into another one of my blogs: So this last week I have been working on writing up a funding proposal for a NSF grant. It has been different. I have never needed to do something like this. It has been really hard, and at times I worry I could never do well enough. Still, I keep pushing through. If we got this grant it would pay for all of my schooling, computer equipment, and hopefully get me a larger salary. Right now I make just enough to get by on. It would be nice to make a little more, so that when the time comes I could support a wife, and that I could put a little into savings every month. And that is pretty much all that happened. Oh yeah, I also build a new file server this week. I am having some problems with its raid drivers, but other than that everything is good. It has 9TB of space, and so I plan to put backups of all my files, as well as all my DVDs and Blue-Ray discs on it. So, it was fun setting that up. I also transfered the hard drive from my old XBox to the new one I was given this summer. Now I can play around with the connect :)

Updates

So, I haven’t written in a while. That is because nothing very exciting has been happening in my life. Life goes on day by day, step by step.

Recently I have been working on getting a paper ready for publication. It is hard to guess how people will react to our paper. We are righting win the area of usable security. The problem we run into is that most security people refuse to think in terms of usability. They want perfectly secure systems, but the truth is that no one uses systems like that. None of us are perfect, and there will always be mistakes. We need to stop living in an imaginary world, and instead be practical. If there was only someway I could convince them of that.

The paper is going well though. I feel that it communicates our points well. I have also been working on my master’s thesis. It is really hard work. I am doing proofs of an authentication protocol. The hard thing with proofs are that they are hard to incrementally make progress. Until you can see how to proceed there is little you can do. I guess I will just keep shipping away at it.

Emily and I are also doing well. Over the last several weeks we have had a couple of date nights. A couple months back I sent her a package that had a bunch of videos. I also sent her stuff to do s’mores with. For our first movie night we watched Inception together. It was really fun. In the middle of the movie we stopped and made s’mores. It is great to be able to have dates even when we live so far apart.

We have also been watching Emma. It is always interesting to see how Victorian England lived life. I certainly enjoy the idiosyncrasies the characters have. It has been a lot of fun!

Still, it will be good to have her back in the USA. She has just one more month of her program left. It will still be a few more weeks after that until I see her, but it will be nice just knowing she is closer. It will also help us Skype a little easier. The internet in China is very flaky, and sometimes talking with each other is hard.

 

And that is how life has been. Overall, it is really good. I hope this update helps everyone keep up. I will try to write more. I will try and do interesting things so I have something to write about

Life as normal in Provo

Well, nothing much as been going on these last two weeks. It has just been work as always in Provo. It is nice to be back though, everything is familiar. That does come with the downside that it is far too easy to be lazy… not that I would ever do that …

Probably the only really special thing that has happened was visiting the FLSR (where I used to live) last Sunday. It was so wonderful to see many of my old friends. They all seemed to be doing great, and that made me really happy. It was also great to chill with Pasha a little bit.

Other than that though, nothing much happened. I did watch BYU lose twice, but I don’t really want to talk about that. I will try and do something cool this next week so I have something to report on!

Coming home and conference

I didn’t write last week since my journey home had only begun. A week ago was spent rushing to finish my project. We demoed it, and it went rather well. I then rushed to get packed up and ready to go, while also training the person that is taking over my project. It was a little crazy, but I got finished.

I then headed home. At first everything was good, but around Yakima my car started to act up. At about 2500 RPM it would feel like the engine was misfiring. Any faster or slower and it was fine. Strange. It wasn’t a big problem, and so I kept going.

Unfortunately, right in the mountains before La Grande, OR my engine really started struggling. I ended up having to pull over and stay in La Grande for the night. Luckily it let me have internet, and I was able to talk to Emily. She had been traveling, and so I hadn’t been able to talk to her for a little too long, so at least there was that.

On Saturday I got up and tried to find a shop to look at my car. Unfortunately, none of them had time. I checked my fluid levels, and topped them off. All my lights were off, so I tried going again, but when I got to the freeway I started having the same problems. In the end I turned around and spent the weekend in La Grande.

It wasn’t actually too bad. I really dislike just sitting in a room, but not much I could do. At least, like I mentioned, it meant me and Emily could talk. All the time I get to talk to her is precious since she is so far away. Church was also really good. The ward was very friendly and the lessons were good.

On Monday I finally managed to get my car fixed. It turned out to be a 14 dollar part, that cost 215 dollars in labor. Go car! Sometimes I feel like my car is going to be the death of my savings account. The rest of the drive to Weiser, ID was smooth. I was in Weiser to visit my grandma. It was good to spend sometime with here. I got to help her do some stuff in the yard. Overall, it was great to just spend some time with her.

On Tuesday morning I drove the rest of the way home. It all went pretty well. I even got to stop and see my dad on the way home. I was glad to spend time with him as well. I finished my trip in rush hour. When I got to Orem I made us some hamburgers. They were so yummy. I cooked the cheese in the middle of two patties that I had folded into one.

On Wednesday and Thursday I started repacking all of my stuff and getting back into work. It all went pretty well. I still have far too much stuff, but I am slowly paring it down and getting it organized.

Thursday night I went with Rob up to the cabin. I helped him with some repairs and cleanup over the weekend. I also did some work. It is really nice that there is Wi-Fi up at the cabin.

 

I also really enjoyed watching conference this weekend. I felt that I learned a lot. What stood out to me the most was the importance of standing for the Lord in all places and at all times. Too often I find myself a quite party to activities I should stand up against. I am certainly going to try to do better after this conference.

I also like the emphasis on families. I love how Elder Oaks was about as straightforward as can be. He made it very clear what was right and what wrong. I love it. If parents would turn away from their selfish desires, families across the world would be better for it!

I can’t wait until I have a chance to review conference again. It was truly a great session. I am glad that the Lord has given us prophets and apostles to lead us in our day and time.

Quick Update

Sorry I didn’t write last week. It is just that nothing too interesting has happened. I have had my nose to the grind stone working away. I have just three more days of work. I present Wednesday evening, and after that it is just getting ready to come home. It has been a good time at Microsoft, but I am also excited to be coming home. This place is just not the same without Emily.

It has been a depressing two weeks with problems with the BYU team. *Sigh* I really wish they would play a little better. Well, just our offence. I am actually rather pleased with our defense. They play extremely well! Go Cougs!

So that is an update from me. Hope everyone is having a more interesting time than me

Amsterdam and Back

Well, I survived my trip to Amsterdam! It actually went pretty well. I must say Europe was very different than I was expecting. Everyone seemed to smoke, which surprised me the most. Other than that it was an interesting mixture of new and old. It didn’t feel quite like a new city, but also not quite like an old city. A very interesting experience.

I didn’t do too much sight seeing, since I was there to present at the conference. The one place I did go was the Anne Frank house. It was really amazing. It was a lot bigger than I always imagined. What would have been really hard was the need to be unseen and unheard all the time. Never going outside would have been killer.

I really like the museum because its focus was on hope and changing the world for the better instead of just remembering tragedy. I feel that often when we remember the past we just try to feel bad about it. In contrast the Anne Frank house was all about telling the story of a girl that was able to accomplish her dreams even in great persecution. She hoped that she could publish her journal, and that its words could change lives, and they certainly have. Things were not easy, but she had a goal that she worked through in spit of any challenges she faces.

I also like the story of her father. Even though Otto ended up losing his family he never devolved into a stupor of hate. Instead he just wanted to help the world do better, and not fall again into such hatred. He truly is an amazing man, and one whom I look up to now. It was a really good experience.

On Tuesday I gave my presentation. It went well. The conference itself also went well. None of the rooms were air conditioned, and adding that to my jet lag, it was really hard to stay awake. Really hard! I managed only with the help of afternoon naps.

On Thursday I took off. My shuttle never came (the driver actually lied about trying to come), and so I had to taxi to the airport. The airport was also interesting. The security checkpoint was right at the gate, and I even saw guards walking around with SMGs. It was crazy! Very different. Anyways, here are some pictures from Amsterdam:

My hotel

 

Breakfast. That is a pancake with peaches, mandarin oranges, and vanilla ice cream.

 

They have very intricate balconies for an apartment.

 

American fast food is every where in the world!

 

Cigarettes were everywhere. Smoking seemed to be the national pastime. Young, old, male, female everyone was doing it!

 

The buildings were really cool. Their were also canals running through the city. They were really nice.

 

Even with the crazy security in the airport I was able to make it safely home. I didn’t experience too much jetlag on getting back either. I was very happy with that. The rest of the week nothing much happened. There was a great talk by Elder Holland for the CES broadcast on Sunday though. If you haven’t seen it (married people) you should certainly go and watch it (http://www.lds.org/broadcasts/watch/ces-devotionals/2012/09?lang=eng). It was just great!

On the Plane

I am actually writing this post from thousands of feet up in the air. I am lucky, and my plane has a power outlet, so I can use all the time sitting to take care of a bunch of writing tasks that I needed to accomplish. Go me!

 

This week has been the first full week with Emily being in China. She was actually in Guilin. That is probably the most beautiful part of China. When she talks about it to me it reminds me of all the good times I had there. She is really enjoying it.

On the home front I have continued to use MyFitnessPal to track my eating and my workout. It is going well. Some fun things did happen though. On Friday my 3 mile run turned into a five and half mile run when I got lost. That was made even worse by the fact that it was after dark and I didn’t know the area at all. It was a bit scary, but oh well.

Another fun story was on Thursday. I had started the day in church clothes since I was going to the temple. I also brought workout clothes to take the gym. When I get to the gym and change into them I realize that I didn’t bring my running shoes. Well, obviously running in my church shoes wasn’t going to happen, so what was a boy to do? Solution! I could ride an exercise bike without shoes! So I wore my shoes up to the bike, took them off, and biked. It actually worked out fine, but I sure did look funny

Other than that, nothing too crazy has happened. This morning I got on the plane to Amsterdam. I won’t have time to do much exploring of the city, but whatever I do get to do, I am sure that I will tell you all about it!

In the meantime I am on the plane and enjoying the entertainment. I have already watched Men In Black III, The Avengers, and now I am watching The Vow. It has been fun. I feel guilty watching this much TV, but I guess there isn’t much choice when you are stuck in a plane.