I graduated this past Monday. I’m done. No more grad school. No more Lehigh. Done!

The finality of that statement is weighing down on me. I’m done. It’s hard to say and even harder to hear.

I won’t get to see the friends that I’ve made in the last five years as often as I’ve grown accustom. It’s a hard thing, having to “move onâ€? and “grow upâ€? after being used to the same type of life and taking the proximity of my friends for granted. We are all done.

I’m off to Arizona; some of my friends are moving to California, some to Rhode Island, a few to Texas, a few are staying near Bethlehem to work. We’re all moving on and starting our “adultâ€? lives. This stage of our lives is done, only to be re-lived in thoughts and recollections; old “war storiesâ€? in our minds.

The future is an adventure; even though this part of the journey is done, another part is waiting to begin. In a way, the finality of this part only makes the uncertainty of the next part all the more exciting. I’ll have my own apartment (shared with Lauren, of course), my own job, my own schedule, and my own life. I get to chose now.

In many ways, I’m not really done with my learning after all; this is more the beginning of a new chapter in which I dictate what I learn as opposed to my professors and teachers and people around me.

I’m moving to somewhere new and foreign to me. I’m just starting! More responsibility. More freedom. New beginnings. Now!

Ready or not, here comes life. Beginnings. Endings. New friends. Old Friends. Life goes on and endings are really just new ways of saying that you are starting on new paths through life’s adventure.

I finished my last exam on Monday! It’s quite a relief to finally be done with my Masters. The move-out process has begun and it’s been quiet stressful so far. I’ve accumulated way too much stuff for just a few years in Bethlehem.

On Tuesday, Lauren, Liz, Amy (their national consultant), and I went to see the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. The trip was awesome. Lauren, Amy, and I went to see the Ancient Egyptian and Medieval Ages sections of the museum. Some of the most stunning and amazing parts were the rebuilt Temple of Dendur and the Arms and Armor sections.

Wednesday through Saturday I spent visiting Lauren’s family up in Boston. I had an interview on Thursday with an MIT-associated research lab, which was one of the impetuses for us going up to Beantown in the first place (the other being the fact that Lauren and I will most likely be moving down to Tucson, AZ for my new job). At this point, it is probably safe to say that I’m going to be accepting the offer from a defense contractor in Tucson. The job has everything that I could ask for.

In other news… the new Harry Potter movie “Goblet of Fire” will be out in November. Check out the preview HERE. Yeah, I’m a dork….

Well, saying that I’ve been quite busy lately is an understatement. I have 2 projects to finish up, 3 papers to write, a twenty minute presentation to give, and two exams to finish before I graduate in May. I’m almost done with the projects, but still have a ways to go on just about everything else.

Thought I’m not *too* worried about the papers and presentation, the exams are starting to stress me out. One is a three hour in-class exam that will be a quite challenging and the other is a take-home exam that will be very time-consuming. What sucks most about them is that I don’t have much time to study for either. I’ll have 3 or 4 days (if I’m lucky) for the first one then maybe another 3 to finish the second one.

I need to just get things done one by one in small steps… and to take a deep breath and tell myself that it will all be over soon… this reminds me of the following quote:

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step
– Miyamoto Musashi.

On an up note, I was quite surprised today when I received the “Branch Out Award” from the Community Service Office for helping them out when I’m able. I’ll be sure to take a picture of it and put it up on my website eventually. Lauren was actually responsible for handing them out; knowing the CSO staff, she was picked intentionally to hand them out since they wanted to give one to me. It’s really cool to have been given an award that I had no clue I was going to get.

| Read the rest of this page …

Two more weeks of class, one week for two finals, and then I’m done with my Masters Degree. The rapidly decreasing amount of time is more than just a little scary.

I still have 3 projects to work on, including: a 5-10 page paper with a presentation on SIMD multi-processing computer architectures, integrating a microprocessor with Matlab through RS232, and porting Motorola HC11 code to an HC12 to make a strong robotics platform. I’ve got lots to do, little time to do it in, and an ever-increasing urge to not do any work at all.

As far as the job-hunt goes, I’m still looking as of now. I had an interview two weeks ago today with a defense contractor for an embedded software programming position and am waiting to hear back from them. I’m a little nervous because I really like the position and potential with the company. Moving to Tucson would be a fun change in my life.

Not much else new…

It snowed about half of a foot last night. The roads look kinda slick and messy from my window. Of course there is going to be school today; Lehigh most likely had workers out from 2am on working to make sure that all of the sidewalks and streets here at Lehigh were “good enough” for people to walk on and get to class. Funny thing about this whole thing is that it doesn’t matter how bad the roads are surrounding Lehigh; as long as the sidewalks and roads on campus are OK, there will be class. Not like it matters if a commuter student can’t drive here because the towns havn’t plowed well enough. Not like it matters that teachers can’t drive here because the hills are icy and they would slide down them unsafely. Nope, doesn’t matter. There will be class today because the sidewalks and roads were cleared around the campus.