Extra Credit: Instructions for finding a parking space on campus between 10 am and 12 noon

1. Start Car, turn on radio (if you're into that)

2. Pull out of home parking lot.

3. Fight the 9am Clemson traffic of angry, rushing students.

4. Arrive at C3 parking lot.

5. Scope parking lot desperately for parking space.

6. When u fail to find a space (because you will), recall whether the university is on a MWF or TTH schedule.

7. Once you discover this, figure out what time students get out of class and park closest to the nearest academic building.

8. Wait.

9. Once students start dispersing from classes, pick a victim walking to follow to their car.

10. Keep close to driving behind your victim and wait patiently for them to get in their car and leave.

11. Ease into your space and you're good to go!

Extra Credit

Instructions for parking between 10am and noon

1. When you get close to campus begin to pray.
2. Determine which route you want to take, the easy or hard

a. Hard
i. Drive slowly into the area where you will need to be
ii. Make sure you AC is working
iii. Circle around about 10 times
iv. Pray a little harder
v. And poof, there is your park

b. Easy
i. Make sure you have a bottle of ice cold water
ii. Drive to the overflow parking
iii. Park in one of the many available parks

Works Cited:
"The Clemson University Vehicular Electronics Laboratory ." Photograph. Tire Atenna Pattern Measurements. 2006. Web. 11 Aug 2011. .
"Discount Airport Parking ." Photograph. How to Find Discounted Parking . Web. 11 Aug 2011. .

Final Post

As an electrical engineer, the most critical communication skills is being able to explain and expound on answers, knowing how to be an effective listener and responder and when writing you have to use proper standard terms so that everyone will know what you are trying to discuss. Dealing with circuits the majority of the time, there could be twenty five ways to solve one problem. Once you solve a problem your way, you have to be able to explain to others what you did so that they can follow your work. In this class, I learned more how to focus on my audience more so that what I am trying to write is suitable and understandable. When speaking with classmates and especially teachers, you have to be able to understand the standard terms in electrical engineering. Without this knowledge, you will be completely lost. A great way to learn a few of these skills would have been from taking this class but the best way is to practice. Engage in conversation with your peers and if you don’t know something simply ask.

Extra Credit Post: Squirrels & Yaz

Welcome to "The Intrepid Clemson Student's Guide to Ceasing a Squirrel's Ability to Procreate"

How about an intro...

When I was a freshman at this fine institution, I was strolling down a sidewalk that had a wall about shoulder height to my right side. I noticed a commotion out of the corner of my eye...lo and behold, my sworn enemy was staring me right in the face. And that is when the legend of 'Ballsy the Squirrel' began...

I knew that once I saw him, I had to figure out a way for this madness to stop. That is the moment when I devised this plan:

Stage 1:

• Teach squirrels the use the dark side
• Pit squirrel against squirrel so I wouldn't have to do the dirty work
• ???
• Great Success

Stage 2:

• Discovered the squirrels were more powerful than I thought
• They are able to revive each other
• Must search for another method

Stage 3:

• Develop the secret weapon
• Take the time to replace peanuts in the shell with Yaz birth control
• Scatter fake peanuts all over campus
• Allow squirrels to eat peanuts
• watch and laugh as the squirrels unknowingly disable their reproductive capability in a safe way

....They're not so innocent

SOURCES:

Squirrel with testicles -- http://www.squirreltesticles.com/?r=WR

Lightsabre Squirrels -- http://www.saysuncle.com/2006/12/26/wow-9/

Electric Squirrel -- http://mirror.uncyc.org/wiki/Squirrel

yaz -- http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/blog/yaz-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-01143.html

nuts -- http://marymeant.blogspot.com/2011/07/peanuts-on-plane.html

squirrel people -- http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2008/cadbury-boost-teases-squirrels/

Squirrel Eating Nut -- http://www.joejoe.org/forum/topic/13537-lol-squirrels/

Final Blog Post

In computer engineering and software development, the two most important forms of communication are documentation (of things that you've done) and oral communication (during meetings or demonstrations). Being able to write a document on something that you have accomplished is an absolute necessity. It must be very accurate and succinct. If someone comes after you, and tries do write a program similar to yours, or even compile your software after making changes, having a document with instructions is a great benefit. It saves very much time and allows everything to operate more efficiently. Essentially, if one engineer learns how to write a certain program or design some embedded system, it would be worthless without proper documentation. This is because no other engineer would be able to replicate it without investing a huge amount of time searching google. The best way to learn to do this is simply by just making it a habit to write down all the steps you take while you're developing, compiling, designing, etc. That way you won't forget all the steps you took. To learn proper formatting, take a gander at documentation written by experienced engineers.

Now, oral communication is also crucial in my field. If you can't demonstrate a product to your peers and supervisors, then it is unlikely that you will even be able to describe it in a written format. There are a lot of cases when written forms of communication can become confusing or the message gets "lost in translation", so to speak. This is one reason why people still talk face to face, believe it or not. The best way to learn or adapt your oral communication skills is to pay attention to the environment in which you work. Observe how the experienced engineers give presentations or demonstrations. Figure out what the best methods for oral communication are by seeing what happens more, face to face contact, meetings, or phone calls.

If an engineer can master these two forms of communication, he or she is bound to have a successful career.

Intro and Blog 1

Hi my name is Cory Beck and I'm majoring in Computer Engineering. After I graduate I would love to pursue a career with a government contractor developing new hardware/software solutions for the military. Something interesting....I was just about to have shoulder surgery because of a mountain biking accident my freshman year and I decided to make a bet with the doctor (I had already had some medication at this point). He told me earlier that once he started the anesthesia, I wouldn't be able to count past 15 before I went to sleep. I bet a dollar I could count to 20. When he started the anesthesia, I started counting aloud, "1...2...3..." and by the time I got to 13 I was skipping numbers on accident. He made me go back to the numbers I missed. I only remember getting to 15 or 16 but when I woke up from surgery I had a dollar in my pocket and a note that read, "Congratulations, you made it to 20"! :-)

There is a seemingly endless amount of communication in my field. One of the most important forms of communication is written documents from customers that specify how a piece of hardware or software is supposed to function. It's important for the engineers to be able to interpret these documents and communicate with each other. Meetings and emails are other forms of communication that enable engineers to collaborate with each other and work out issues with whatever product is being designed. Besides using documents, emails, and meetings, engineers also use nonverbal communication like body language and graphics for GUIs.

Good communication is characterized by the ability to not only write documentation, but to be able to interpret it also. Being able to write clear and effective software design documents will allow software developers to work efficiently. If the document isn't so clear, having the ability to determine the intended message is also a great communication skill. Of course, oral communication skills are always necessary because in the end, whether for collaboration meetings or fancy demonstrations, engineers tend to meet face to face when it comes time to critique, test, and deploy new products.