My camera feels neglected...

as may you if you noticed the recent drop in d (blog_post)/dt (rate of blog posts per time in derivative format). School is really crunching in these last weeks, scheduling extra class, meeting with professors, and working on the programming in our research project. I haven't had time to get many good photos in. However, there is good news for the camera, and after the weekend good news for you: I'm traveling to Transylvania this weekend with the Erasmus group. This means good fun with the group of international kids, new pictures of an amazing destination and a good picture post next week. So Stay Tuned, don't touch that dial.

Szechenyi Bath

Recipe for a perfect Friday:
1. Sleep In.
2. Wake up and eat delicious leftover pasta with Goat cheese. Find friends online to chat.
3. Spend the afternoon at Szechenyi Bath, probably the best thermal bath in Budapest.
4. Enjoy the outdoor thermal pools, the indoor hot and cold tubs, the saunas ranging from 30 to 90 Celcius, the cold plunge pool after the sauna, and the sunshine of course.
5. Ride the Metro 1 and Tram 4/6 home, fall asleep on the couch for two hours from the sun.
6. Wake and finish eating the pasta. Yum!
7. Go on a run to Hero's square and back to the Apartment while listening to the iPod.
8. Clean around the house, and then jump in the shower.
9. Post a Blog about how good your day was.

Critical Mass Budapest

The Danube Bend

On Friday, us boys went castle exploring in Northern Hungary along the Danube Bend. We stopped by the cities of Estergom and Visegrad to brave rainy weather and awe at the beauty of the region. Estergom has a huge Basilica, as it was once the capital and religious seat of Hungary. Visegrad has a hilltop castle that was once a stronghold along the Danube for Hungary. It was a time traveling trip into the mediveal past of the area. Check out the pictures on flickr, they do better justice than my words.

Good News Everyone

I'm working on my posture. The test I had today went well. The pictures of the weekend are going up on flickr. Here's a preview:Enjoy!!!!!

Vienna, Wein, Becs

It's all the same place, silly. I'll put up pictures and more type up tomorrow. But let it be known, not only was the company and the city great, I got to ride a bike!

Busy Engineers

Ahh, I'm having trouble finding the time to be online. Things are picking up over here. School is getting busy, and we're getting cracking on our research project. Production Engineering is becoming very interesting; we're learning about industrial robotics in manufacturing, and are programming a training robot.
Here is a training Robot, running off an old Dos machine with about a Megabyte of RAM. It was made by some of the university students as a PHD project some 10 or 15 years ago. This is what we're starting out programming.
Look at this bad boy go. This was top of the line in the late 1980s, built by the current cell phone company NOKIA. They did some automated workpiece placement research on this setup in the early 90's, and now it's also for student training.
Here is our lab space at the University. There's a Microprocessor which we are learning to program for a Ultrasonic Distance Sensor. Not too complicated, but we have to learn lots of C quick. We're using the Oscilloscope to look for interference if multiple US sensors are operating at once.
After school we hurried to buy tickets for a quick trip to Vienna on Sunday and Monday (Easter Holiday on Monday!).
And of course sometimes we relax for a late lunch break.

Blossoms

Oh, this is what a change in season is like...

How could you stay inside when it's this nice out???

We've grilled, played frisbee, and enjoyed sunshine in the park the past two days.

Tourist Season is Starting

I know because they started making announcements in English on the tram today.

The weather is getting great...the trees have buds, soon to turn in to leaves. The flowers are blooming, the grass is green. There is sunlight lingering around into the evening. ahhh.

Budapest Opera