Phil....Hero at the Beach

Last Sunday our son, Phil, decided to go boogie boarding at the beach. It was his first time back after a long time since he started working last August. When he was about ready to go home he heard voices calling for help. He saw a man drowning with his clothes on. Apparently the man jumped in looking for his kids who had gone surfing. According to Phil the waves were fierce at that point and the man's clothing did not help the situation. Phil did not hesitate to come to his rescue and lifted him up to his board. According to Phil he was already tired at that point since he had been boogie boarding for quite a while. He hoped for a push from the waves and it came for them. The paramedics and lifeguards came as well. He said people were congratulating him all the way to his car. When Russ told co-workers at their work, one of the Sys. Admin. said he saw the whole thing at the beach from afar and did not realize it was Phil. They all congratulated him at work as well. I believe Phil was sent back to the beach that day for that very purpose. God is so good.

It's Official

We are very proud to present our graduate...

Irving R. Phillips, III (Phil)

Bachelor of Science

Computer Engineering

Magna Cum Laude

California Polytechnic State University

San Luis Obispo

Spring 2009

After the main ceremony, we headed to the private reception for the CPE (Computer Engineering) graduates. It was a brief private ceremony as there were only 45 Computer Engineering graduates.

We had time to take a family photo in between the two ceremonies. (photo taken by Krystal)

Photo with Phil's Senior Advisor, Dr. Liddecoat.

Our intimate family celebration at the Dolphin Bay's Lido Restaurant

This is a very momentous day for our family.

Congratulations Phil!

Announcing....Phil's Graduation

It seems like it wasn't too long ago when we celebrated Phil's highschool graduation back in 2005. Some of you joined in our celebration party at the Mariott Hotel in Newark, CA. I remembered crying while reading a letter I wrote for him inspired by the song "I Hope You Dance" by Lee Ann Womack.

And boy, dance he did...to the tune of academic excellence.

After four years of hard work, we are very proud to announce his graduation from Cal Poly as Magna Cum Laude in Computer Engineering.

Photo courtesy of Papelle Photographie

There is a good reason they call these ceremonies "commencement exercises."

Graduation is not the end; it's the beginning. ~Orrin Hatch

This is another milestone for our family; one that indeed marks the beginning of yet another chapter. Thank you for being a part of our life. We are very proud of our son, Phil, for his extraordinary achievements.

News highlights on Phil since our Christmas newsletter:

• Tour/interview at The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) last December resulting in a formal job offer. His visit to China Lake was arranged and paid for by NAWCWD.



• Travel to Malta last spring break as part of Cal Poly’s ICEX Team (International Computer Engineering Exchange program). The program is called Malta Cistern Mapping Project. This project was recently featured on a local news station.



• Final senior project for ViaSat, a satellite communications company.



• Currently doing part-time, paid, remote work for Oracle.



• Contemplating on pursuing his Masters.
  

Phil knew what he wanted from the beginning: he has always had that "sense of wonder" or fascination with computers and robotics (maybe it's the computer flowchart mobile his dad made for him when he was a baby. I was going to say it's from my genes but everyone knows Calculus makes my head spin and smoke:).

His strong interest with computers continued through highschool. He earned a Department Award in Computer Science and Student of the Year award in Computer Programming. He was thrilled when he was accepted at Cal Poly. He knew the moment we toured the campus that it was the school for him. It was our first and last college campus tour for him.

Cal Poly is indeed a perfect fit for him apparent in his continued growth not only in academics but in his character as a whole. The best attributes of Phil are his strong faith and positive outlook. He is a great steward of his blessings. It is evident in the way he cultivates his God-given talents through his diligence, perseverance and constientious efforts. He does his best, and then he leaves the rest to God. I have witnessed this blessed attitude countless times. One recent example I can remember is when he applied for the Malta ICEX program.

Originally, the program can only fund 5 students. He was initially selected as an alternate. I knew how much he wanted to travel to Malta, yet I did not see a hint of disappointment. He felt honored to be selected as an alternate and be able to contribute to the program. For Phil, all he can do is do his best; and the rest is not up to him but HIM who is ultimately in control. He was happy to be part of the technical training in preparation for the trip. They must have seen his wonderful work ethics and this positive outlook I talk about. As it turned out, the program was able to fund 6 students. Moreover, he gained valuable mentorship and sponsorship from the program's Technical Director, Dr. Chris Clark, who recommended him for an Outstanding Graduating Senior award and is encouraging him to pursue his graduate studies.

If my mantra is "too blessed to be stressed", Phil's is "carpe diem", which means sieze the day. To him every day is a blessing and therefore time should not be wasted. I say, he is a great blessing....all that he is....and we are truly grateful.

He has several options/choices in front of him. We will keep you posted of his future plans. Again, we thank you for all your prayers and support and for being a great part of our life.

Phil in Malta!

The ICEX Team arrived in Malta! Follow their exciting undertaking in here.

Update on Phil Continued

Phil came home very happy last night after a successful Robotics class competition. He has an undefeated personal record for his robot projects. His robot last quarter won first place. This quarter's robot won first place again with perfect score. He said everyone were wondering and asking how his team made their robot run smoothly without problems. "Ask Phil" is his other teammate's reply. He is truly enjoying his Robotics projects...I think he found his "calling".

As for the ICEX Malta project, another article was written about it by Zahra Latif for the Malta online newspaper http://www.di-ve.com/.

Click here to view the article: "Robots uncover hidden Malta".

Update on Phil

I am getting excited for our first-born son, Phil, for his upcoming 10-day trip to Malta during Spring Break beginning on March 20th (the day after his 22nd birthday). Upon his return from Malta, he will be in his final quarter at Cal Poly, at which time he will be working as a paid intern for Oracle. I can't believe he will be graduating already this coming June and with very high honors if I may add. Please excuse me if I seem to be "bragging", I am just really proud of his well-deserved achievements. This is one of the great priviledges of blogging...I get to "sing my children's praises. He has 3 strong prospective employers at the moment (soon to be 4) with a solid offer from The Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division (NAWCWD), an organization within the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR).

This upcoming trip to Malta is another great endeavor to add to his list of accomplishments.

The Mustang Daily, Cal Poly’s student-run daily newspaper, features Cal Poly ICEX 2009 in today's front page article:

Engineers specialize robots

to explore water in Malta

by: Chris Jagger

For a group of computer engineers at Cal Poly, spring break will be a productive experience rather than a week of rampant partying and relaxation.Through the International Computer Engineering Exchange (ICEX), a collaboration between Cal Poly's computer engineering department and various international partners, several students will be traveling to the small island of Malta to work on a robotic exploration project. "Since there aren't many opportunities for computer engineering students to study abroad, we've found international projects that people need computer engineers to do like robotics, exploration, archeology and stuff like that," said computer science graduate student Matthew Schlachtman.The team of experienced computer engineering students consists of Schlachtman, Michael Boardman, Justin Kuenm, Cory White, Daniel Hiranandani, Phil Phillips and faculty advisor Chris Clark. Malta has historically been under constant attack, so an underground system of caverns and wells was built to store a reserve supply for soldiers held up in fortresses for long periods of time. Because the cisterns have not been seen or touched for more than 2,000 years, the ICEX team will use two remotely controlled robots to explore them. The small, lightweight robots will fit into holes that people cannot access and essentially swim through the caverns, using sonar software to map them out. The company Video Ray provided all robotic hardware and the ICEX team specialized these robots to perform well under water."We've been working on our particular part of the project for the last three months," electrical engineering graduate student Boardman said. "That part has been updating the user interface, changing thruster controls, working on mapping algorithms and changing around the mapping interface so that it would be a little bit better than it was before for our trip."

The ICEX team is working in conjunction with an archaeologist who will help them find sites for the exploration. According to Boardman, archaeologists are want to see how well these cisterns are connected together and hope the Video Ray robots will provide reliable maps. To make sure the robots function correctly and all the software is to speed, the ICEX team received permission to test them in the Poly Canyon Village pool last Tuesday. They wanted the robots to map the pool as if it were one of the cisterns. "We just wanted to test everything out, make sure it all works and see how our maps come out of the pool," Boardman said.By the end of this session, they were able to deploy both Video Ray robots, read sonar data off of a laptop, control them with a joystick and gauge the overall functioning of the software. They also discovered a few minor problems. One robot was too buoyant and needed more weight to help it submerge under the water. They realized that the joystick controls needed minor adjustments.The ICEX team members said they are confident that the robots will be fully functional by spring break as they anxiously await their trip to Malta."It's been a tremendous experience just learning about robotics in a practical way,"Boardman said.

Go online to www.mustangdaily.net to see an audio slideshow.

My First Pansit Creation

My very first 'pansit bihon' (a filipino noodle dish) creation. Pansit is part of a filipino's celebration. Those of you who really know me, know that I am not particularly fond of cooking. But you also know that I am a very devoted mom. Well, my son Phil attended a potluck get-together a couple of weeks ago for the ICEX Malta '09 team dinner. As most of you already know, he was selected among 6 Computer Engineering students to be part of Cal Poly's International Computer Engineering Experience (ICEX) program. The team had a potluck dinner to have a chance to 'bond' outside of technical training as they start to feel the excitement of their upcoming trip to Malta (they will be leaving on March 20th-the day after our son turns 22). Hench, my first 'pansit' creation:)...after all, it is truly a cause for celebration.

"Coming of Age"

I can't believe it was 21 years ago when I labored for 32 hours

(from St. Patrick's day until St. Joseph's day).

who was it that once said:
"to give birth to a child
is to share with God a tiny piece of creation"

And today, 21 years later, our first son is now officially an adult.

Today is a very significant day for our first born. Besides his final exams for this quarter, this day marks his "coming of age". Phil is 21 today! At an age when a lot of emphasis is put on alcohol, I feel so blessed knowing my 'official-adult-but-always-my-baby' prefers to play the Super Smash Brothers wii game he asked for. As I am writing this, I hear him enjoying playing with his baby brother and sister. What a blessing! Thank you God. I know that though he may outgrow my mothering, he will never outgrow all the love we have for him.