Pokémon Moon 🌙 + Nearing Alola Pokedex Completion!

Hey guys! So after the board exam, one of the things I bought was a Nintendo 2DS. I initially planned on buying a new phone, but I said to myself, "since the new Pokemon Games will be released a month after the review, why not invest on a game console instead? My phone is still fully functioning." So yeah, that's it. 

Poke-Moon

Assembling the Thousand Sunny Kit

Hey guys! So after the board exam, I went and treated my self to a couple of things. One of them was this model Thousand Sunny kit I bought from Bestoys in Greenhills. When I enter toy stores like these, the kid inside me glows with joy! I like toys, I mean, who doesn't? Miniatures makes my eyes go pop and my heart, lub. 

They have a huge collection of toys, and some model kits too. I personally like the Going Merry, but sadly, they had no stock so I went for the Thousand Sunny instead. Something about creating and building things make me so happy, so when I see one of these, I got excited. With stuff like these, waiting for the results of the board exam should be easy. 

Tips for Taking the Board Exams

Hi there! I recently passed my licensure exam last October 15-17, and I'm going to share my tips and experiences during our review and the examination period. Do take note that while these activities worked for me, it might not work for others. Read my other post for my "Journey" of becoming an engineer.

1. KNOW YOUR and UNDERSTAND SELF.

This is probably one of the most important tip, because it will be a factor in making your review routine. "Knowing oneself is basic to knowing others." haha. But seriously, you have to know your self, and know yourself well. What is your most efficient time to review? How do you review efficiently? Are you a fast learner or a slow learner? Do you prefer noisy or silent places? It all starts with knowing yourself. 

The Journey

Hey! I took a short vacay just after the exam because,

IT FEELS SO GOOD TO BE HOME! 😌 

So, let me tell you what I had to go through during the 5-month reviewing spree. It was May and I had no freaking idea what was going on with me. I was excited and anxious at the same time. I am about to embark on a journey that will potentially change my future.
WARNING: Long Post 😀

All of us in 1 photo. Yes, we did not have beds. We slept on the floor. Sad lyf. 😢

The Journey. It wasn't easy. It wasn't hard either. It just depends on yourself. It's whether you make it hard, or easy. LOL I don't know what I'm saying. Okay, so there were 5 of us in our dorm. 3 of us went to the same review center, while the other 2 went to another review center. This allowed us to share our materials and knowledge, and "tricks" learned from each respective review centers. Another advantage of sharing the room with friends is the teaching and learning process. Of course, no one person can know it all. There were times when one of us, at random, just begin shouting questions and the others, sometimes, will respond. It was fun, spontaneously answering questions. 

The Review Starts!

Hi guys! I apologize for the lack of content the past few months. I just graduated college. Yes! And not yes. Yes, because I am finally a degree holder. Not yes, because I think the knowledge and experience I gained in 5, 17 years of education is not yet enough to prepare me for the real life. 

My girlfriend is already preparing for her life as a professional, and it makes me think of mine. I will still be taking my licensure exam, so I will have to review for about 5 months. By then, Andrea will already have a career. 5 months is a long time to think for my career, because as of now, I am still wondering what field am I going to specialize in. 

As an ECE graduate, there are a couple of fields of specialization to choose from: telecommuncations, semicon industry, aviation, medicine, navigation, broadcasting, audio, and networking, among other fields. 

I am personally interested in computers, so I am thinking of joining the IT bandwagon. Specifically the in the Networking field. I have little to no experience about networking though, as we barely scratched the surface in our lectures and limited lab equipments. I am planning on taking a cadetship or any job that has a training before employment. I also plan on becoming a CCNA. (Cisco Certified Network Associate) And continue that path.

The ECE board exam has a lot of pressure in it. Our school had passing rates below the national passing rate I think for the last 3 years. I hope this batch will break this rating. In the previous April ECE Board Exam, only 2 out of 12 first timers passed. (8 failed, 2 conditional) 6 out of 14 repeaters passed. (7 failed, 1 conditional) with an overall performance of 8 out of 15 passed and 3 are conditional. Wow. Our board exam is dubbed as "One of the hardest board exams." and I accept this challenge!

Anyhow, I apologize for the lack of posts for the next few months. We will undergo rigorous training (loljk) to finally become a registered ECE.

To my friends who's also reviewing for their board, good luck to us and may God help us!

To my readers, thank you for understanding!

And to everyone else, cheers!

Arduino Robot Part 1: Wall Follower

Hey guys! It's been a really long while since my last post. And trust me, a lot has happened. Well, as promised, this is the "making" of our 'bot. It's a partial requirement for the subject Embedded Systems. 

The subject mainly focused on Arduino, which is an open source microcontroller. The first project was kind of a Maze Solver type robot, in which the robot needs to find it's way out of a maze. While searching for possible inspirations, I came across this little robot called a 'micromouse', which does the same thing, only better. The micromouse maps the maze until it reaches it's end point, which is usually the center of the maze. It then goes back to the starting point, and finds the shortest path to the center. The process of using the shortened path from the starting point to the center takes more or less 5 seconds. My jaw just dropped and I spent the next seconds pulling it back up. But that's a different story. The micromouse is a special robot. It uses complex algorithms to solve the maze.

I thought we didn't have enough time to study the algorithms and figure it out. So we just resorted to the wall follower algorithm, which is really really simple. It follows either the right wall, or the left wall. In real life, if you raise one of your arms: the left or the right, and touch a wall, eventually you will reach the end. That's the process of this algorithm, hence the name.