Second Week: Green Yay Red Nay

By: Michelle Lu

Hi Internet! This is the first time I've ever blogged so bear with me. This is my second week at MetaMorph, and I am loving it! (No, I'm not saying that because I have to haha) Well, I'm not loving it when I am getting errors left and right. But I guess that just makes it all the more satisfying when  I finally get everything to completely work. I feel like I have learned and accomplished a lot in the past week. As Zack said in his blog, we are working on subcircuits for the web tools. So far, I've been working on the following subcircuits: Authenticator, Energy Harvester, FM Receiver, and the Microphone. The Authenticator is completely finished and passed the final checklist! Yay!! The others are on its way so hopefully I finish those soon as well. Here's a picture of both the GME and Eagle model of my Energy Harvester subcircuit.

The biggest challenge I had in making these subcircuits was learning how to use the tools and understanding what I was doing. Nothing worked correctly the first time, so I learned a lot from my errors. Another challenge was figuring out how to fix these errors and sometimes even knowing what the error meant. One thing I've learned this week is that saving, closing, and reopening a file or program can fix half you problems. I don't know how this magic works, but I'm just happy it does! Anytime I see red on the computer I now cry on the inside just a little (just kidding, but it is sad when the red error pops up). On the other hand, the color green makes me happier than it ever has.

Putting aside all the subcircuits and lovely errors, I'm starting to feel really comfortable here and getting used to the new environment! Before starting, I was scared that I wouldn't get along with the other interns or that we wouldn't have much in common (besides circuits of course). But, everyone here is great! Going back to the errors, I think all the problems we encountered brought us closer. We work well together and joke around a lot, which makes the work day so much better. We found a nice lunch spot on the top of the parking lot too! Here's a picture featuring half of Zack's face.