Hey, Miss Computer Engineer!

Sheesh. I had no idea it was this hard having a thesis. Well, perhaps I would not have felt that if I had managed my time well enough – but, of course, I didn’t. Now, I have the task of writing the Review of Related Literature, which I think is totally the same with the Theoretical Background. I am having quite a hard time differentiating the two, which is why it had taken me hours, days and even weeks before I got started.

The thing is that we would be having a mock proposal presentation, just to practice ourselves in front of a “panel” so that we wouldn’t have stage fright and freeze. Now, this mock presentation would be happening by the weekend and that meant that today, I have to finish my RRL since it still has to be reviewed by our thesis adviser (and maybe I would still have to revise it after).

So, I got to finish my first draft of the RRL and I am not all too confident about it. I believe it is all wrong and not exactly what is wanted. I am not even able to convince myself that I have done the right job.

Sigh. I’ll just have to wait for our adviser’s feedback.

Instead of having our thesis done at the Cotcot River, the CE people who collaborated with us decided to choose the Guadalupe River instead for many reasons. I’m not exactly sure what these reasons are but we have been a little bit happier about the news since our project had to consider communication network signal strengths for it to work. The river in Guadalupe had more promise of giving us a stronger signal in at least one service provider.

The sad news about our thesis was that the CE masteral people decided to change their project at the last minute. They sort of left us alone and we now had to worry about the installation of our project on the river, aside from the many problems we had already determined. But, as they say, “never say die”, and I never really had doubts with my team (although I think I should have, at least a bit) or any worries about us not making it.

I’ll probably post a few pictures of us visiting the river once I get a copy of it. The river was full of trash and it was definitely a breeding ground for mosquitoes. In fact, after the entire journey (we sort-of had a river trekking going upstream), we found ourselves having an itch or two on our legs.

It was quite hard to find a good place to set up our proposed water level sensor as well since not all parts of the river had the same level. In some places, the water was shallow and even if there was heavy flooding, it seemed like the water never really rose to a dangerous level. Some areas were already deep too. In fact, we saw many kids enjoying themselves while they bathed and swam on the river.

Fortunately, we did find a good place, one that the CE people suggested. They said it was best to place the sensor under a bridge, just behind one of its supports (although the one we found was not big and long enough to have such). Still, we decided it was a good place as the water also rose more than waist-deep during heavy rains. Plus, there was a “dike” where we could have the sensor mounted and possibly welded, so it would not be carried away by strong water current.

For now, part of our problem is solved. We’ll still meet problems on the way but we’ll manage somehow. Till the next.

Well, it actually isn’t the first meeting within the group but it’s the first meeting we had with the Civil Engineering Department. Our project is actually a part of the flood mitigation project, a master’s thesis project in the CE Department.

We sat down in their office, the four of us (me, Irvin, Ralph and Regina – Kirby was late), Jonah and Karen (the ones preparing for their thesis in the CE Master’s Program) and Engr. Nestor Sy, our CE “adviser”. He actually just explained how the water level sensor would go and what he would want us to do and we just keep on discussing things and laughing casually as well.

I won’t be able to say much in detail because I’ve mentioned it in the previous entry. However, after we went out of the office, I just felt like I went into a brainstorming meeting for a project in a big company. I felt pretty much like a working girl already, a part of the technical team of a company. I mean, I’ve had a job in a real company before but I’ve never felt this way. It’s probably because the task at hand is more related to my course and it makes me giddy because I feel that my knowledge and skills is not yet enough for the job. I have so much to learn and it’s the first time I could really say I’m not prepared for the job.

So, anyway, I will try to make up for my lack of subjects and have self-study instead. I hope I could get to learn as much in a very limited time.

Til the next!