001.1 - Personal Info

Ya, I must have missed this part on the homework, so I'm doing it AFTER the first blog entry.

My name is Michael Eskridge, and I'm an Undergraduate Computer Science major graduating in December (hopefully!). I'm mostly interested in "futuristic" research in CS, which I take to be anything that will be useful in a decade or so. I think sketch recognition is right up there on possiblities, though currently I think the field is limited to the constraints that we have in the here and now. I believe that technology should be peripheral-free in the future, with no pens/tablets/wires of any kind, but obviously this is still quite a ways away. But I'm hopeful!

Since I'm only an undergraduate, I don't have a HUGE experience in all types of programming, but I'm usually a fast learner. I have experience with most of the big languages like C++, Java, and C#, but I haven't done much with them in a few years. Most of my recent programming skills are centered in website design like CSS, XHTML, and PHP, which is what I've used for classes for a few years now. Sadly I have NO experience in Sketch Recognition and very little into AI, just a few algorithms I'd have to look up in a book to fully remember.

I got interested in this class from a question posed by my mother-in-law, who teaches 7th grade math. She wanted to know if there was a quick way to put fractions and different mathematical symbols in faster than looking them up in some "insert" tab. I contacted Dr. Hammond about it and somehow wound up in this class. Although I'm not all that interested in the history of the field, I'm convinced that this field along with Computer/Human Interaction will really have a huge impact in the next decade or so, so I'd like to familiarize myself with the coming future by learning what we have available today.

I'm very interested in Computer Graphics and anything to do with them, such as website development, logo design, interface engineering and the like. I'm starting my family soon, as my wife is expecting on Christmas of this year, so in 5 years I hope to have a beautiful daughter and be making lots of money. I don't have any set goals as far as what I do in the CS field, but I'd like to do something that leans towards interface design and development. In ten years I hope to be president of the US and be the first person on Mars. And if you actually read this far, then I commend you and hope you found the joke funny.

I'm an aspiring cartoonist on the side and I play way too many video games. Along with this class I'm taking a 3D modeling course, a storyboarding/comic course, and an introductory course in drawing on the computer (that I probably should be teaching, but I'm not complaining). I graduate in December, like I said, and I hope NEVER TO BE IN SCHOOL AGAIN. As much as some of these classes are fun, school is just not for me. I'd rather be in the workforce and learning than in a classroom any day.

Hopefully this covers what is ME. You'll notice that I spell my name "Miqe" on pretty much everything. This is because in high school someone suggested I be different and spell my name "Mique" and I agreed. Shortly thereafter I typed it in wrong on a message board or game or something and I realized that "Miqe" was much less feminine than "Mique" so I switched it. And I've been Miqe ever since.

So that wraps it up. Hope you enjoyed the read, though you really should have been reading your papers instead....

Miqe