paulog · the life of paul grzymkowski - [ log.paulogy.com ]

So last night I got a Flickr pro account, because I’ve been meaning to do much more with my photos.  All too many of them sit in a box, or on the computer, and never get to see the light of day.  Hopefully through Flickr, and this site, I can change all that.

So, where to begin?  Why not start with something that’s been a real passion of mine over the years:  Halloween!

Today was a good day.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few weeks (not that there’s anything wrong with that - I bet it was a really nice rock), you’ve probably heard about a certain little videogame that was released today. I’m of course referring to Grand Theft Auto IV, a game that was so anxiously anticipated, even I was excited about it - and I don’t even own an Xbox 360 or PS3 (yet). For just about any new technology debut (like the Wii, iPhone, PS3, Halo, etc.) I typically sit back and watch the pandemonium and wonder to myself if all that fuss was truly worth it. But this time my behavior was a little different…

It’s a Friday night, and you’re having some people over to watch the movie Crash.  It’s about 7:30, there’s seven of you (5 guys, 2 girls), and you’re getting hungry.  What do you do?

WHAT DO YOU DO?!?

Order pizza, right?

Sounds good, in theory.  But sometimes things don’t always go as planned…

TLG 0.7 Beta is a transistor-level layout synthesis utility developed for Magic in C.

If you understood fewer than four words in that last sentence, then this entry is most likely not for you :-).  While you may never fully understand or appreciate this project, know that at the very least it was the final requirement that enabled me to receive my Master of Engineering degree.

And it worked pretty damn well.

View the full (53 page) report here.

What if you could just wave your hands in the air and create music?

If you happen to be a professional music conductor then you are one of the few people that could make that fantasy a reality.  However, assuming you don’t happen to have an orchestra at your disposal (or the space, for that matter), then the following information may be of some use to you.

Using VLSI design and cutting-edge 0.5 micron CMOS microchips to do what any pre-schooler would know how to do already.

Think you know Tic-Tac-Toe? Think again.

See it here, and here.

“ECE 476 student masterminds, Vic Aprea and Paul Grzymkowski, have forever altered the fabric of teaching at Cornell University. Their groundbreaking efforts in vertical plotting technology have provided accurate graphical solutions for even the laziest of professors.”

See what happens when two Cornell students, two stepper motors, a whiteboard, and an Atmel microcontroller unite in an unholy explosion of pretentiousness…

[ experience the rapture that is VP · SQUARED ]

As an early assignment for Architecture 132 - a class at Cornell I chose to take in part because it filled a history requirement, and because I’ve always been somewhat interested in architecture - we were asked to draw “every place we have ever lived”.  For me that was somewhat easy since, up until college, I had spent my whole life in the same house.  The point, I think, was to reconsider what is needed in a dwelling, and to compare our relatively lavish houses to a gallery of “primitive huts” we had just learned about.  Or something.  Admittedly, the well-attended course wasn’t that well-organized or coherent.

Regardless, it was an opportunity to draw again.  Something I hadn’t spent nearly enough time doing since my days in middle school.  So, with much excitement I chronicled my various dwellings, from childhood up until the present (as of Spring 2000).