Inspired by our bible study topic at Church earlier today about making the right choices in life, I’ve decided to make a list of long-term life goals. It’s basically your ordinary ToDo list, just in a grander scale. The point is, if you know what you want in life, you’re more likely to actually succeed than if you just sit around waiting for what life throws at you.
Nothing is written in stone of course (just on-line), and most of these will probably end up getting modified or chucked out completely. Still, it’s better I write them out as early as I possibly can. This way, I have a better chance of managing at least a couple of them and not end up disappointing myself (and you, since you’re reading this 
).
So without further ado (and crap), here’s my list:
- Get a PhD from a reputable US university
- Publish in an international journal (hopefully 1 leads to 2)
- Internship at a multi-national tech corp. (focus on r&d, silicon valley would be great)
- Contribute to a major FOSS project (starting one would be even better)
- Start and raise a God-fearing family
- Get recognized in my line of work (Gawad Chancellor (UP) at the very least)
- Start a couple of companies (at least 1 tech/r&d venture and 1 other)
- Get a US patent for one of my ideas
- Become an IEEE Fellow
- Publish a couple of books (at least 1 EE/Academic related and 1 inspirational)
The list is ordered according to when I see myself achieving each goal, the first one being the soonest.
Here are a few things that didn’t make top 10 (i.e. secondary goals):
- Learn to sight-read sheet music
- Get a nice house with a devoted music room
- Get invited as keynote speaker in an international conference
- Visit at least 20 different countries of the world
- Meet Andrea Corr in person
gradschool, personal
WordPress 2.7 has arrived and I updated this blog as soon as I can. The process was quick and painless. I like what they’ve done to the interface, but it does take a little getting used to. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the time to post anything after the upgrade. Just look at the date on my previous one. That’s about 3 months without a single post. The only activity this blog has seen since then, is a couple of Russian comments that got through Akismet.
The Holidays are here, so I think new posts are in order. Besides the free time and the guilt at having to pay my webhost for nothing, I have another motivation for resurrecting this blog. In the next few weeks I want to focus on improving my writing skills. Everybody tells me the best way to do that is to practice. I just don’t see myself writing essays in a diary or something. So I plan to use my blog instead. I’m sure the web is filled with people who have nothing better to do than criticize my writing. If you feel like doing so, or you see an error here and there, just drop me a line. I won’t get mad. I’ll even thank you for it.
Why the sudden interest in writing you might ask? No, I haven’t given up on my M.S. and decided to become a writer instead. On the contrary, I’ve actually decided to go straight to a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering. I have my reasons for doing this and I don’t want to dwell on them on this particular post. Its enough to say that I’m almost done with the application process.
When applying for Grad School in U.S. universities, you have to write a few essays about your qualifications and your plans upon getting your degree. They call it the statement of purpose. It’s hard to make one. Doing my SoP, I realized how much I sucked at writing. A fact that was further reinforced after someone, whose opinions I value very much, told me I need to work on my writing (and speaking) skills. The exact words, if I remember correctly, were: “Your writing skills are not proportionate to your intelligence”. Why thank you! At least I got the intelligent part right.
Seriously though, writing is my weakest link. A flaw that would be all the more crucial once I get into a U.S. university (hopefully next year). I’ve decided to do something about it and I’m going to start with this blog. I have other plans of course, but this is the first and easiest one. So if you read my blog ocassionally, and you think you could have written it better, just say so in the comments section. Hopefully with your help, I’ll start writing better in no time.
gradschool, howto
