Skills USA Part Three: The Fun Arrives!

Thursday started the best part of the trip: my mom and sister arrived!  I didn't have anything I had to do for the competition, so we went out to play!  First stop was the Independence, Missouri visitors center for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  As we arrived, we had to take a picture of the Church of Christ Temple across the street.   It has such an interesting shape!

Inside the LDS visitor's center, we were greeted by an adorable, cheerful Sister missionary.  We chatted for a bit then just explored on our own.

This was in a play room for kids

 Not far from the visitor's center is the future lot for the Temple in Independence.

After the visitor's center, we went to Cafe Verona.  It had a fun atmosphere and decent food. 

Then we got to tour President Truman's house.  They wouldn't let us take pictures inside, but we heard some cool stories.  His wife lived in this house until she died, then immediately gave it to the government for preservation.

Then we went to Liberty Jail, where Joseph Smith and some of his companions were locked for a long, cold winter.  Revelations that became part of the Doctrine and Covenants were received in this jail.

Friday, we mainly went shopping, which was a lot of fun.  I got several cute outfits!  We tried to go to a movie, but it turned out the showing we looked up online was in 3D, which was too expensive for our tastes.  I think this actually turned out well because we got to spend more time together.

Friday night was the awards ceremony, where I found out I didn't win.  Again, it was flashy and loud.  Afterwards, we got ice cream at Baskin Robins as consolation :)

All in all, it was a fun trip, made especially so by my mom and sister coming.

Skills USA Part Two: The Competition

Tuesday, we had breakfast at 8 a.m., where we were given a written test about basic job skills and Skills USA as an organization.  Then I had quite a bit of a break before the meeting for my competition at noon.  They gave us information about what to expect and let us ask questions.  Then we took a written test about computer programming.  

After my meeting, I wandered around the "Techspo", eventually meeting up with the other student from SUU.  We wandered a bit more, waiting for our ride, and we got to see a National Guard Bike Trick show.  I'll upload a video or two at some point.  For some reason I can't get them to upload directly.

When our advisor arrived, we went to dinner.  The Utah Skills USA director recommended Jack Stack.  We found it to taste good, but to be somewhat overpriced for what it was.

Carrot Cake--it was very yummy

At orientation, they gave us 5 Utah pins to use for trading.  I collect pins, but I didn't really care about trying to get them from every state.  My main goal was the SC state pin, but I also got Texas, with which I was rather pleased for reasons some of you might know.  *wink*

  

Wednesday was my actual competition.  I was a little disappointed with my performance, but it was my first national competition.  I tried not to over-think it, but I ended up getting too worked up, anyway.  I tried to do a GUI (graphical user interface) and when I couldn't I just turned it in because I was like shaking.  Additionally, our judges never showed up, so we had make-shift judges.  The proctor mentioned something about them maybe not being able to stay the full time.  Then the judges started coming around to each person, so I felt rushed.  Anyway, I know I could have done much better, but hey, if I ever did another competition like this, I know I would do better, so I must have learned something, right?

Just a cool building downtown Kansas City

That night was the opening ceremony.  It was much crazier than I expected.  They had loud music, crazy lights, and all the states provided glow sticks and such for the participants.  I was expecting something more ceremonious, I guess.  The keynote speaker was the guy who started Ocearch.  They catch and tag great white sharks for tracking and scientific research.  Kinda crazy.

Skills USA Part One: I Got to Kansas City Last Monday

Peter and I got to the airport at 8:30--two hours before my flight was scheduled to leave, as per instructions.  It was a good thing we did.  The line was loonnng!  There were so many people going to Skills USA, most of whom were high school-ers, Peter, sweet hubby that he is, waited in line with me to get my bag checked in.  As we were getting my ticket and waiting in line, we saw a group of men dressed in Scottish clothing, carrying bag pipes and other instruments.  After I got through security, I saw them playing, likely warming up.
I got to my gate and met up with my "adviser", and we were eventually joined by the other student going from my school.  Then we settled in to wait.  As my adviser said, flying is a lot of hurry up and wait.  However, while we were waiting, I learned the reason for the Scottish bag pipe players.  One of the desk attendants announced over the intercom that there would be WWII military veterans flying today.  As they entered the terminal, the bag pipers led the way, playing "Scotland the Brave," and everyone in the area stood and applauded to honor our veterans.  It was pretty cool.

Our second flight was delayed quite a bit, so we got into Kansas City later than planned.  When we arrived, they did a little orientation thing and then we given our T-shirts, name tags, pins, and programs for the Skills USA Conference.  Then we were finally allowed to go up to our hotel rooms.

Driving into Kansas City (I had fun editing this photo in Google Plus)

Kansas River or Missouri River

National Skills USA Shirt

Utah Skills USA Shirt

I believe both shirts were designed by students, or at least members of Skills USA

I went up to my room, opened the door and found...someone else's belongings already spread throughout the room.  I closed the door and called the head of Skills USA from our school to confirm that he had gotten me a single room (he had), then I went to the room of the other student from my school to see if he had any problems with his room.  He didn't, but he allowed me to stow my stuff in his room while we both went down to find Whit, the director of Skills USA for Utah.  I explained the situation, we went upstairs to "headquarters" (the hotel room for Utah officials, I guess) and he learned that I had been given the wrong room key.  Apparently, I had originally been in the room I was given the key for, which was right near the rooms of the other two from my school, but then I had been moved.  So Whit took us down to the desk and got me a new key!  It was a lot easier to fix than I was afraid it was going to be.  I went up to my new room, and it was empty! Hooray!

Skills USA State Competition

A few weeks ago, I went to Skills USA.  I was actually the only girl going from our school.  Two guys were going in Computer Programming, like I was, one was going for Computer maintenance, three for electronics, and one for 3-D drafting, I think.  We left at 9am on Thursday.  I rode in a van with two of the three guys I actually knew and the professor who was the only other female going (she probably had to go because I was going).  One of the guys was doing programming and had gone a couple years before, so I wracked his brain a little bit to get an idea of what exactly it would be like.

When we arrived, we picked up the schedule and checked into our hotel.  It was very nice, and we each had a room to ourselves, which was even better.  We all had meetings starting at 5:30 that evening, so we went to Cheesecake factory to grab lunch/dinner (since by that time, it was already 3:00 in the afternoon).  We went dressed in our Skills USA uniforms, which consisted of a white polo with the Skills USA logo and black dress pants.  I looked slightly ridiculous because my polo was too big--they didn't have any smalls, I think because they had never sent any girls before.  I took a picture, but it was very blurry.  Turns out, eating lunch in white polo shirts is not the smartest idea.  Several of the guys got food on their shirts, but luckily the spots weren't too big.

I think the thing we spent the most time doing at Skills USA was waiting.  We got to the meeting about 45 minutes early.  Then, our meeting only took 15 minutes to half an hour because all we really had to do was get our name tags and then ask any questions we wanted to.  The rules and the professor back at SUU who had encouraged us to go made it seem like the competition would be very strict, but we were working with programmers, who tend to be pretty relaxed people.  They told us we could use the internet and pretty much any resources we wanted as long as we didn't copy and paste code.

After the meeting, we had to wait for all the other guys, some of whom had their competition that night.  I spent the time with the two programming guys, wandering around campus.  One of them had attended the school before coming to SUU, so he kind of showed us around.  I guess I should have taken some pictures then, so I would have some to post here.

I met up with my in-laws about 7:15 and went back with them to their new house.  They've gotten a lot of things unpacked and in place.  It was kind of funny to see all of the things that had been in their old house in the new space.

That evening I showered and tried to get everything as ready as possible for the next day because we were leaving the hotel at 6:30am and wouldn't be back.  I had a hard time getting to sleep, though, partially because I had no white noise--the air conditioner wouldn't stay on.  The other reason I had a hard time getting to sleep was because I had tried to call Peter and he didn't answer.  I tried to go to sleep without worrying about him, but I really couldn't sleep.  I finally called him again at like midnight, and he answered this time.  Turns out he had fallen asleep because he had nothing to do without me around ;)  We chatted for a bit, and after that, I was able to get to sleep.

We left just after 6:30 that morning, and once again, we got to wait around for an hour before our competition actually began.  The challenge for our competition was basically to program a hierarchical database, which might not be incredibly difficult, but is difficult to do in 5 hours or less.  They told us from the beginning, they didn't expect us to finish.  There were only four of us in the collegiate group (Skills USA has a lot of high school participants), and three of us were from SUU, so at least two of us were bound to place.  The guy from the other school left really early, claiming to be finished.  One of the guys from our group had to leave an hour early so he could get back for a ballroom competition, and the last two of us stayed the whole time.  We ended up chatting with the judge who had come up with our challenge after the competition was over, which was kind of cool.  He gave us two pieces of interview advice: 1) start with a fart joke to break the ice (I'm not sure how well that would work for a girl, though...)  and 2) unless you walk away laughing, you probably don't have the job.

After that, we got to, you guessed it, wait.  The awards ceremony wasn't until 6:00 that evening, and we were done by 2:30.  We sort of vegged it on the couch in the student center for a while, then wandered off to find some food.  We ended up eating Wendy's and got back just in time to head over to the award ceremony, which did not start right at 6:00.

The awards were not quite what I was expecting.  I was expecting something very formal and official, and this had elements of that, but there were so many people and so many different competitions, that they really couldn't be completely formal.  They were also not very organized or smooth as they presented the awards, with a lot of pauses and breaks.  They almost forgot to announce the winners for about four of the competitions, two of which guys from our school had competed in.  SUU swept two of the competitions.  I got second in computer programming and the two other SUU students got first and third.  We were told that our code was actually better than that of the winner the previous year, which was almost better to me than winning, since three out of the four of us had to place.  Because the guy who got first might not be able to go, I might get to go to nationals this summer, which would be a pretty big honor.

Two programming winners!

After the awards ceremony, we had to drive home, and we didn't get back until nearly two in the morning.  I actually had a pretty cool conversation with the guy in my van.  He's from Utah, but his mom isn't a Latter-day Saint, so neither is he [if you don't know what this means, click on the "I Believe" button at the top of the right column in this blog : ) ].  We didn't really talk religion, but it was interesting to learn about his family and background and to tell him about mine.

*****Update 4/21/2014******

Yesterday at church, one of the sisters asked me about being in Skills USA.  She told me she had read about it on SUU's website, so I looked today, and sure enough, I found it!.  Pretty cool.  Click the link here to see the article.

A Month of the Journey in 10 Minutes or Less

So, at the beginning of the semester, I had big plans about writing a blog post every single week! Yeah… we all see how well that's worked out thus far. I haven't really had a whole lot to write about. Peter and I have gotten back into the routine of school, and not a whole lot changes for us. I still don't have a ton of homework, which in turn decreases motivation to do any of it--terrible, I know. (Don't worry, mom, I am getting it done :P).  I have really enjoyed using the tablet I got through the CSIS department. It's so much lighter than carrying around my laptop. That thing seriously doubles the weight of my book bag.

I guess I can talk about school a little bit. Three of my classes seem to play off of each other some: Computer Organization and Architecture, Microprocessors, and Operating Systems.  Architecture is fairly interesting, if a little slow-moving.  I'm learning a fair number of Linux commands in Operating Systems, which is good since I don't have a whole lot of experience with Linux. Microprocessors, let's just say that the only reason I understand anything in that class is because I'm sitting next to James. We are building a tankbot, and I think it could be a kind of fun class. The problem is that the teacher explains everything at once, and/or explains the next step like 1-2 weeks before most of the class is ready for it, and then expects us to remember it all and just do it.  Plus, I think he assumes we have more background knowledge than we actually do. So, I just plug along, and when I get to the next step and have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing, I turn to James and he explains it to me. What's nice is that he doesn't do it for me, but explains every little piece I have a question about, so I actually do end up with at least a semi-complete understanding. We'll see how well  I truly understand it during the midterm, I guess.

Mobile Apps is one of my favorite classes because we're doing what I actually love about computer science: programming.  The only drawback is that since we're learning Objective C (the language used for programming iPod and iPad devices), I can only use a Mac because the best program for writing Objective C is Xcode-- which is really good, but the only version is for Macs.  And seeing as I don't own a Mac this becomes a problem (anybody want to lend me one? Haha, just kidding). I really would like to practice Objective C and work on my homework assignments at home, but I haven't found a way to make that possible.  So I guess I'll start scheduling more time to be at the school so I can work in the Mac lab!

Finally, I'm taking a forensic science class.  This one is basically an in-depth review of other classes I've taken.  However, the teacher has told me that in replacement of the final paper, I can give a presentation in class on Computer Forensics during that section of the semester!  Truth be told, I'm kind of excited for it.

Peter and I are both taking the Doctrines of the Gospel institute class, albeit at different times.  The teacher is Sister Cox and I love her.  The class is great!  I've really been enjoying it.  It is the highlight of my Tuesday/Thursdays.  Plus, it counts as a scripture-based class, which I need to graduate.  Win-win!

I can't tell you much about Peter's classes, but his schedule is lighter this semester, too.  He is enjoying the Master's level class he is taking, which is good because it is down in St George, and I think it would be really hard to make that trip each week if he didn't like the class.

Also, the company he'll be working for after he graduates (Café Zupas) came to the career fair this week, and while they were here his recruiter and the COO (Chief Operating Officer, for those not too savvy with business terms) took him and their other hire-ees here in Cedar out to dinner to make sure they knew they weren't forgotten.  :D   The COO was also the speaker for the Business department lecture series today, and Peter went to all of that.  I came for the tail-end (I had work for the first part) and got to go with Peter to the luncheon afterwards, where he officially introduced me to the COO.

In non-school related news, last month our stake did it's annual Marriage Symposium.  The symposium has been fantastic both years we've gone.  They have speakers come in and talk to us about how to build happy marriages.  One of this year's speakers was John Bytheway!  He was really funny, and gave some really good tips.  The second speaker is a family life professor at BYU, Mike

Goodman, and he actually spoke to us about marital intimacy--not about the mechanics (of course) but about the spiritual aspect of it and how men and women think about it differently.  It was an awesome talk, especially since it's not a topic we usually talk about in church but one we as young married couples need to understand better.  Another cool thing they've done at both the marriage symposiums we've gone to is a text message survey.  They ask questions about things we're doing or our opinion on different things, and you text your response in.  The niftiest part is that the results show up live through the website that hosts it, and we get to see the answers from all the other married couples immediately!  They had questions geared toward the brethren as well as questions geared towards the sisters, such as, "What does your spouse spend too much time doing?"  For the sisters to answer, the choices were like watch sports, play video games, homework, etc.  For the brethren to answer, the choices were things like social media (Facebook, pinterest and the like), talk on the phone, and homework.  I really enjoyed both the marriage symposiums I've been to; and to any married couples living in Cedar next year, I would highly recommend going.

Well, I think I've covered a month worth of stuff fairly well with this little post.  I will try to be better.  I should have something more to say during the next week, what with Valentine's Day being tomorrow.  Love y'all!

Back to School

Well, we have finished our first week of the Spring smeseter.  Peter is excited because he is going to have a much easier semester than this past fall, and I think I will have a somewhat easier semester, also.  Last semester we were both taking 18 credits and working two jobs.  It was pretty busy.  We’re both still working two jobs, but we have less than 18 credits this semester, especially Peter.

Classes seem like they’ll be mostly enjoyable, with maybe one or two exceptions.  I’m excited to be learning mobile app development, even if we are focusing on iOS devices :P.  Since Android uses java, Dr. B says the learning curve isn’t as big, making iOS more important for us to learn in class.  Dr. B is employing the “flipped classroom” method of teaching for this class, since a teacher of iOS (Objective-C) at another university who used to work for Apple has put all of his lectures for a similar class on iTunesU.  We are charged with watching lectures at home, taking notes and a short (open lecture) quiz on them, and then coming to class prepared to discuss or follow along as Dr. B helps us actually do some coding.  Should be interesting.

My Operating Systems class is a strange combination of students that I know.  Some of them are younger ones I TA’ed for last semester, and others are ones that have been in many of my classes and are at about my same level.  Almost too many people to talk to; half the time I can’t decide whose conversation to join!  It’s fun, though J

I have a new lab to TA in that is much smaller and is also a private lab, so I can prop the door when I’m working so students can come in and ask for help or leave it closed when I’m off the clock.  It’s nice and quiet.

I have also started eating lunch with some other CSIS students.  I just sort of randomly sat with a friend named Randy the other day, and then like 3 other CSIS students joined us!  When I said something about never having eaten lunch with CS students before, they were like, ‘yeah, we ended up doing this last semester’.  They must have enjoyed it cuz they’re doing it again this semester!  I like it because it helps me not be deprived of socialization when I spend all of my day in class and working.

Peter and I are both taking the Doctrines of the Gospel Institute class, although we’re taking it at different times (he’s taking it at 11am while I’m working, and I’m taking it at 1pm when he’s working).  I’m quite enjoying it.

So, that’s the first week of school!  One down, just a few more to go! ;)

Code Camp 2013

Several weeks ago, I attended Code Camp. What is code camp, you ask? Well, let me tell you. You arrive at 7am Friday morning, get all set up and settled in, and then at 8am, you begin writing a computer/mobile program, aka coding.  You continue coding for the next 24 hours. You are free to eat, sleep, and if you’re over 18, you can even leave if you need to grab snacks or something, but you have to stop coding at 8am Saturday morning. Hopefully whatever project you were working on is finished because judges then come around, and you show them what you’ve accomplished.  They then choose first place, second place, and third place winners from each division.  There were four divisions: rookie (who are given a kit to help them), novice, collegiate, and professional. My teammate Chaz and I were in the collegiate division. You were allowed to have up to 4 people on your team.

This was both mine and Chaz’s first year at code camp. I had come up with this idea to write an android app that takes pictures of things like fliers and inputs the event information into Google Calendar. We used an open source Optical Character Recognitino (OCR) program called Tesseract, which is run by Google, so we called ourselves the Tesseract Tekkies (the Tesseract is also the powerful cube Lokie steals in the Avengers movie, so we thought we were pretty cool).  Chaz worked mainly on the front end of things: he used Java (the language we were writing in) to call the Tesseract Program and get its output, and he also worked on connecting to the Andriod camera.  I worked on converting the text file Tesseract produced into things that the computer could interpret as dates and times and inserting them into the Google Calendar.

It was definitely an interesting experience.  I had expected to crash sometime in the middle of the night, but I felt alert all night.  I could feel my body getting pretty tired, and I even tried to lie down and take a nap, but my brain would not shut up!  I did crash in the car on the way back, and then I slept for like 5 hours Saturday afternoon (after I showered and ate a little snack, that is).  I got my part working at like 4 in the morning, but then I tried to make a GUI (Graphical User Interface as opposed to using command line), since I had heard the GUI was important if you wanted to win.  And I messed something up.  Once everybody started waking up the next morning, a couple of friends from another team were able to help me go back to what I’d had before, but something still wasn’t working.  We figured out that it was because Tesseract had given me a different format!  We were able to figure that out, too, and I was much happier J

Our presentation went fairly well, and we were hoping to maybe get 3^rd place in the collegiate division for our project.  When they announced the winners in the various divisions, I was in a daze, bordering on a doze.  So, when first place for the collegiate division was announced to be the Tesseract Tekkies, I was surprised, but too out of it to get really hyper and excited about it!  We really did not expect to win, and it makes me feel really good that we did.  Maybe we’ll continue working on the project and develop an app—who knows?  It would be pretty sweet, though, to have an app in Google Play.