profaranda

Building Integrated PhotoVoltaic

profaranda — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 15:55:00 +0000

BIPV is a relatively new field of engineering and it is not yet mature. it's immature nature can be trace to a fact that no comprehensive training program exist in order for it to be offered in engineering courses. It's something that I have to learn while at the same time hold on to what I already know previously. I just hope that I can juggle my work and my thesis in order to catch on to the opportunity that it can bring me too.

Learning again

profaranda — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 08:48:00 +0000

Well, it' been almost two months since I last post my blog and it will be more irregular as I stopped teaching for now. It's been two months since I entered the industry and several adjustments have to be made not only in my lifestyle but also in my knowledge bank. I still miss teaching and definitely I have to teach because that is the only way to be sharp. But I'm also learning a lot. I have learned a lot using autoCAD since the last time I taught it in a subject called CAE (CENCOMP in old lasallian eng vocabulary). I'm now studying about BIPV or Building Integrated PhotoVoltaic which is the integration of solar panels in the design of structures. I'm also helping some TIP-QC students in their outreach regarding the design of picohydro (I'm also grateful to kuya Obeth for his input, GreenHeat too have Hydro engineering capabilities).

Personally, I'm also learning how to look at myself more deeply. I need to exercise more financial awareness and wisdom far greater that what my dad has shown to us (Now this is where I miss him badly!) Aranda Engineering Tech. Ltd. is also in its birth pain (I know its not bad to abort businesses...) but at least it has some very promising clients.

While I cannot promise a regular dose of blog for these time I just realized I haveshould continue to write. I have to express what I have learned in order to help myself reflect more on to this and also allow people to express their thoughts on what I'm going through

Quo Vadis

profaranda — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 12:52:00 +0000

It's been nearly a month now since I start my work in GreenHeat. I have entered the relatively unheard world of renewable energy (A lot has been said about green engineering from many professional organizations and so far none came to AMORE-3 launching and this is where the action is). I'm starting to find my place in this work and so far I still have little to do since the WASH program doesnt started yet. basically I'm helping out in doing CAD works for our newly launched commercial application (can't tell you yet the particulars)but lately I have been asking, is it still worth to continue my MS? lately I am starting to have my misgivings on it, I started on a wrong foot. (Guys, if you are planning to get MA or MS please know first what you really want and make sure that nyou can afford to stop working). Many of my friends said that I have almost arrived just finish the thesis and just bear it out. But the sad truth is I am not happy anymore and I dont get any fulfillment. My family on the other hand said that I must finish this to honor my father's sacrifices but one fact remains: I am not bounded to no one and even my dad give me the permission to stop if I have to. Another thing to consider is I lost my adviser's confidence and definitely it would not be healthy for me to do it anymore.

I'm back!!! and so sorry

profaranda — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 13:29:00 +0000

Its been a while since I last wrote on my blog (luckily I'm not somebody but for my students who religiously follow this I'M VERY VERY SORRY). Well since I ended the sentence with an apology might just as well offer my apologies to my students and colleagues. I was not able to finish my masters thesis on time so I have to leave TIP-QC. I hope to return someday and give back to God and Country. To SPCWD friends I'm also sorry for it took me a long time to do it but I still stand for my commitment to you (Thank yo to Engr. Aligato and Mr. De Roma for bearing with me) but I assure you that I'll give something this June.

I'll leave school for now but I'll be back. The the last of the SOLV Tiger is not done yet

Integral Hell

profaranda — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:17:00 +0000

Fluid mechanics is a math intensive subject. In my third year of teaching I have decided to raise the bar by integrating advance mathematics in my subject. The problem is I haven't prepared my math. In this problem in which I have to integrate a number that would required a major integration my weakness soon began to manifest. I have nearly forgotten my integrals already (For a modeler this is a no no.) In order to attain my resolution to be one of the best Fluid Mechanics teacher in the country I have to improve many things my math included.

I dont teach Calculus and its been three years since I last handled differential equations but fortunately I have many friends both here and Tarlac who can help me

UBUNTU experience 3.2

profaranda — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 02:27:00 +0000

I can now use GLOBE TATTOO on my Ubuntu Linux. Thanks for the author of this blog ivy http://poisonjin.livejournal.com/ for the instructions. It was not as hard as I thought. I still can´t run Smart Bro ZTE but I´m currently working on it. Thanks to Dr. Leizel Fallarna for lending me her globe broadband. It was a worthy endeavor

New Breeze

profaranda — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:56:00 +0000

It has been a while since I last wrote in this blog. I was not able to write for a while because I have to finish my PICE paper and awith it brought new sense of personal morphing.. I also recently acquired a new hobby which is collecting pencils as well as tinkering with computer programs such as ELMER, Euler, Model Builder and Vensim. It was quite fun collecting pencils although I have realized that how lucky I was since I can spare money collecting various pencils while many cannot even afford to buy quality pens ( I also collect those shoddy ones and I´m also willing to exchange quality pens for rare and imported pens even though they are actually shoddy). A student of mine is actually into this hobby and I´m looking forward for some exchanges with her.

I´m still learning the ropes of ELMER as well as Euler, Model Builder and Vensim. Since it is an integgral part of my thesis vensim is what I´m mastering now. I can´t believe that it made me more conscious of the causal relationship than writing it on paper. ELMER will be next because it is very useful in fluid mechanics.

My ubuntu experience 3.1

profaranda — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:46:00 +0000

I am presently writing this in my favorite Arabic restaurant. The food is great, the ambiance is very Arabic as though I am writing inside a bar in Lebanon and looking at the other tables beautiful Arabic and Iranian women free of their head gears while I savor my food with Rai music as a background – Anyway before I get lost I will have to relate my traumatic experience using UBUNTU 9.10.

I have no idea that in the initial release of the Karmic Koala there is one crucial bug that hit me big time - the WiFi is not working properly. Since I have a paper to submit that moment I am already mad at myself for being inside a helpless situation (Dr. Terante is already sharpening his knife to slit my throat). Thankfully my sioti came to the rescue and directed me to a cafe where they allow LAN cable to be connected to your laptop (I wonder how Dr. Terante look like that time and his expression of relief). I was able to do some updates that fix this problem but there is still more. The word ¨hang¨ is not part of the Linux vocabulary but it is now. This is the only distro that I´ve experienced this. My OpenOffice.org crashes from time to time before this update was made and I caused considerable delays in my paper.

I still don´t know how many bugs still lurks in my laptop but on the plus side my WinE is already working quite well. I have already installed STRAN which was timely since I am already teaching matrix analysis of structures. ProgeCAD is nearly trouble free and does not crash. Caesar 3 and EPANET are still running flawlessly. VENSIM is also trouble free, which enable me to run my model. But before I celebrate at my small victory against Windows there are still some issue regarding the HEC suite (It still doesn´t work) and the Linux version of HEC-HMS has graphics problem (the window size is not optimal I can´t click buttons below) and the WinE website is still clueless on the problem (they are also clueless about the HEC programs either).

So far my story here can´t exactly be described as a walk in the park but it opened my eyes on some opportunities. I have decided to learn programming so I can contribute to the development of UBUNTU and WinE. Oh by the way, the WiFi in this Arabic restaurant sucks (maybe Hezbollah is tapping into it I can´t say for sure) at least the food is great thereby preventing me from getting pissed. I have to close now before I forgot that I´m in Manila not Beirut.

ubuntu experience 3.0

profaranda — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:44:00 +0000

It was quite a while since I made my post. I have recently formatted my Laptop and installed ubuntu 9.10 and it has a lot of difference with the 8.10 version even though the gui was similar (on the surface) Tried the new version of kubuntu too before going back to the Gnome desktop environment. The KDE desktop was very difficult to handle and someone transitioning to linux on windows will definitely regret the experience (and maybe even abandon LINUX when he or she was thrust into kubuntu).

Iḿ presently downloading the WINE layering tool but I believe the last time I believe it got infected with windows based virus and therefor started to malfunction. overall the integrity of the OS is still the same but the emulator I believe was busted. Iḿ still verifying if my hunch is true but from what Iḿ reading right now it seems that WinE is vulnerable to windows virus after all. Iĺl try to work out progeCAD and HEC programs in this wine package but for now Iĺl have to be more carefull in accessing files directly from my windows based programs to my studentś USB

My media player has dramatically improved from the 8.10 version. gone were the days when the movie black out and tweaking the sidebar for that. I seems to play flawlessly.

The new ubuntu update tool was more user friendly and a few minutes practice is what I need to fully familiarize myself. All i need is a good wifi connection to update my OS and download some tools to make my laptop more effective.

Marooned

profaranda — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 02:38:00 +0000

I just can't believe what happened last saturday. it was the rainiest day of my life. Am downloading HEC-FDA and trying to do something out of what happened