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.

She Paints Flowers

Isabella as Georgia O'Keefe in her school play, The Greatest Americans of The 20th Century.

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.

Babes in Toyland

A video clip from Babes in Toyland last December. Isabella played The French Doll in Act I ...she pops out from the big gift box.



Finally I have some photos of Babes in Toyland from last December. The photographer hesitated for a long while as to whether or not to make the photos available. The photos came out dark because of lighting issues at the Pismo Vet's Hall. I am so glad the photographer finally decided to share them despite the quality issues.

Here she is coming out of a big gift box

in her solo French Doll dance

joined by her close friend, Sonja, as the Toymaker's Assistant

here she is descending from a lifted grand jete over the Floppy Dolls


final pose at the end of the French Doll dance

and I also got 4 photos from Act II with Isabella as a Sheep (coming soon after I finish scanning:)

'Beauty Tips'

From the beautiful, Ms. Audrey Hepburn

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day.
For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone. Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands; one for helping yourself, and the other for helping others.

Shared by ate Cecile, a beautiful angel friend...Thank you.

When I say 'I am a Christian'

When I say... 'I am a Christian'
I'm not shouting 'I'm clean living''
I'm whispering 'I was lost,
Now I'm found and forgiven.'

When I say... 'I am a Christian'
I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing that I stumble
and need Christ to be my guide.

When I say... 'I am a Christian'
I'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing that I'm weak
and need His strength to carry on.

When I say... 'I am a Christian'
I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed
and need God to clean my mess.

When I say... 'I am a Christian'
I'm not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible but,
God believes I am worth it.

When I say... 'I am a Christian'
I still feel the sting of pain...
I have my share of heartaches,
so I call upon His name.

When I say... 'I am a Christian'
I'm not holier than thou,
I'm just a simple sinner
who received God's good grace, somehow!

shared by my sister in Christ, my GFF Tessie...Thanks