Abe's Journey

So Which Project Did I Choose?

When I last left you, I was choosing between two different projects. Those projects were the NES Emulator and Malware Analysis. You will be happy to know that I was assigned to my first choice, the NES Emulator! As you can imagine, I was very excited about this. However, that excitement quickly turned into worry. If you remember from my last post, I had no idea how to do this.

Break It Down!

Luckily, this course encourages you to break the project down into smaller requirements. Without this crucial step, I don’t think I would have the understanding of the NES system that I do now. We have always been taught to break the problem down into smaller problems. I now see why… With each iteration of our requirements document, my blood pressure goes down just a little.

Seriously, if you are ever stuck on a problem, just break it down into smaller problems. It really does help.

How’s The Course?

For the most part, the Senior Capstone class has been everything I expected it to be. We get assigned to a project and team, then we complete that project. However, the amount of writing associated with this course is something I did not expect. For some people, this may be an issue. Fortunately, I invested in my writing skills early on, so I don’t mind the writing one bit.

It may seem like an unnecessary amount of writing at first, but you’ll quickly see how helpful this whole process is. This is especially true if you are not entirely sure what your project requirements are.

Job Hunt

As I previously mentioned, I currently work full-time as a Logistics Coordinator. It is a relatively stressful job, especially when things don’t go as planned (which is all the time). However, it has taught me a lot of soft skills that will prove valuable in the future.

As grateful as I am for my current position, I do want to make a transition. It is a bit difficult to take on an internship, as I can’t really quit my job due to the fact that I don’t want to be homeless. However, I do plan on transitioning within the company to gain some experience. Stay tuned, as I’m sure you’ll be reading a post about my new position in the company!

How Have I been Handling All of This?

Not to bring the mood down or anything, but I definitely struggle with stress and anxiety. Between working a full time logistics job (ask anybody how fun logistics is), and being a full time student, it can get pretty overwhelming. There are definitely days where I get home from work, and don’t even want to think about homework.

With that being said, I am fortunate enough to have a great support system that I can rely on to keep me motivated. I also like to remind myself that I am incredibly lucky to be able to get an education, and I never want to waste that opportunity. If all else fails, all I have to do is remember how much this all costs me…. I have to get what I paid for!

A piece of serious advice is to always make time for yourself, and the people you love. If life is just a cycle of work, school, and repeat, then you’ll find yourself burnt out sooner rather than later.

Sorry, I had to do it…

Who Am I?

Hello, reader! My name is Abel Sanchez, but everybody calls me Abe. I am currently a student at Oregon State, working towards my Computer Science degree.

I was born and raised in Fresno, California. If you’re thinking I live near the beach, you would be mistaken. If you’re thinking I live in a cool mountain town, you’d also be mistaken. The good news is that I’m right in the middle of California, so everything worth doing in this state is just a few hours away.

Hobbies

Like most Computer Science majors, I spend a lot of my free time playing video games. I’m currently addicted to College Football 2025. There, I get to live out my dreams vicariously through my Road to Glory player (yes, I play for Oregon State). He does things that would make my knees explode if I even thought about it.

Aside from that, I love spending time with my girlfriend. If I’m not playing video games, I’m hanging out with her. A perfect day for us would be rotting away on our couch, watching TV and movies. It’s currently October, so we’ve been sure to get in the spooky spirit and watch horror movies. Ironically, that’s her favorite genre of movies, so its actually no different from any other month.

Current Job

As someone who studies computer science, you may be able to guess my current job. That’s right… I’m a logistics coordinator for a very large construction company! That’s not what you were thinking? That’s okay! I never would’ve guessed this is what I would be doing either.

If you’re wondering what a logistics coordinator does, you sound just like me when I interviewed for the job in the first place. In a nutshell, our project managers tell me when they need material to arrive at the jobsite, and I make it happen.

My Computer Science Journey

I wish I could say that I’ve been coding since I was a kid, or that I’ve always had a curiosity for how computers worked, but I would be lying. To top it off, I sucked at math, and had no interest at getting good at it. So how did I even end up here?

The embarrassing, and possibly eyebrow raising, truth is that one day I just decided I wanted to go to school for Computer Science. It seemed like a cool major. Seriously, that’s it. I signed up for classes at my local community college, and never looked back. It was the best decision of my life. It awakened an excitement for learning that I had never felt before. I even got good at math!

After a few years at the prestigious Fresno City College, I transferred to Oregon State. That brings us to present day, where I am now in my final year of college. There is still so much to learn, but I am proud of all the progress I’ve made this far.

Favorite Project

Part of the reason I’m writing this post is for my Senior Capstone project. In fact, I don’t have a choice, as this is a part of my grade. Regardless, I am excited to begin this journey! There are a lot of cool projects to choose from, but there are a couple that caught my eye.

NES Emulator

The project that seems the most fun is the NES emulator. However, it also seems the most challenging. As you may have guessed, in this project you are tasked to create an NES emulator using C or C++. You will need to emulate the NES’s 8-bit 6502 processer, along with the APU (Audio Processing Unit), and PPU (Picture Processing Unit).

I know, I know. I must be a pretty smart guy to be able to tackle a project like this, right? The truth is, I have no idea how to do any of this, but that seems like more of a reason to choose this project. Don’t you think?

Malware Analysis

Did I mention my Computer Science curriculum has a focus in Cybersecurity? No? Well it does, and malware analysis seems like an important topic to study. In this project, you are asked to establish a virtual environment to perform static and dynamic malware analysis. Again, this seems quite difficult, but I am determined to challenge myself.

Like the NES Emulator, I have no idea how to go about this. You’re probably wondering, “Does he know anything?” The answer is yes. However, I think what makes computer science so great is that there will always be something you don’t know—until you try it.