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.
