Memos From the Cube

Now I’ve recovered from the severe jet-lag one gets from a nine-hour timezone shift, It’s time for the internship wrap-up!

The Final Day

A week and a half ago I went along reluctantly to my last day at the office, where I would be spending my final hours at Atmel before being unceremoniously kicked out and thrown on a plane back home. I must say I wasn’t really looking forward to it, since my time at Atmel was an extremely interesting one, with lots of new experiences and above all knowledge. On the upside, my last day was a Friday – and that means it was cake day and waffle day. You really have to love working at a place that sticks to a fixed baked goods consumption schedule.

The Friday morning was an especially interesting one; firstly I helped set up the large meeting room with a few of the latest demo applications from the applications group, which was then showed to the rest of the company so that everyone could have a look and a play. One of the demos chosen to be shown off was a quick 5 second test application I butchered from the sensors group, to make the UC3L0 Xplained board’s RGB LED react to how the board was tilted. Next, I was called into a meeting room where I undertook my first ever round one job interview – a completely pants-wetting experience which I’m sure I messed up slightly, but at least everyone there knew me and had seen my work output over the last few months.

During the afternoon I finished up my investigations into ESD testing of a new board, using a portable ESD testing shock gun that I quickly renamed the “Employee Incentiviser 3000”. Embarrassing moment #356 for my stay; accidentally shocking myself with it while talking to my boss. Once all was said and done we all went off to the meeting room for the aforementioned cake eating ritual and the expected goodbyes. What wasn’t expected however was a truly magnificent parting gift:

Yes, that’s right, a silicon wafer containing ye olde genuine AT90S8515 cores, the second AVR model I ever used. Beat that – it’s now proudly mounted on my wall, as both a shrine to engineering excellence, and to all all things shiny. Yesterday I threw it under my University’s stereo microscope, and was fascinated to look at all the chip sections up close. I got another really neat gift too, but that’ll have to wait for a full review in the future when it’s officially released.

It was with a heavy heart I handed back my security token, put my trusty coffee cup away, cleaned up my desk and grabbed every freaking board within reach. At least this was sanctioned; I was allowed to grab one of each of the new Xplained boards lying around, as well as the new accompanying sensor boards.

I really wish I could adequately thank all my co-workers at Atmel, my boss and everyone else that made my internship such a pleasant one. I’ve come away from Norway with the first-hand impression that Norwegians in general are an extremely kind and interesting people in general, but the folks at Atmel even moreso. At no time did I feel out of place, with everyone going out of their way (and outside their normal duties) to make me feel welcome and an integral part of the team. One day soon, I’ll be back, I’m certain of it.

Breaking the land-speed record

But before I could leave, it was time to get out of the way one thing I’d been putting off trying; skiing! My co-worker Glen had extended a few invitations prior, but due to tiredness, other engagements and incapacitation (hangover) I wasn’t able to attend. On this last weekend however I made darn certain I could go along, since I wouldn’t have been able to show my face around back home if I said I went to Europe in the winter and never tried out skiing.

After arriving Glen and I went and got our equipment rentals sorted. Being the brave soul he is Glen opted to try out a snowboard, while I just settled for the regular skiis. This was my first time ever using them, so Glen was kind enough to give me enough information to get me started — both figuratively and literally, with the end result being me hurtling down the slope trying to stay upright and away from the tree line. Take note kids; always ask how to stop first, before learning how to go. Before the day was out I almost got the hang of it, although I still wasn’t able to slow down myself once I’d gotten going, as I settled for just figuring out how to avoid small children and animals while breaking the sound barrier down the slope.

Embarasing moment#357: The ski-lift was an unusual one, and not like the ones I’ve seen on TV that are an actual chair – the ones in Norway seem to be essentially rubber coated anchor shaped poles that you place under your rear and get pulled up while wearing your skiis. At one point, I didn’t dismount correctly, resulting in this fun situation:

Which sent me cursing backwards up the slope, but provided great entertainment for the other people on the lift at the time. That aside, it was a great day and I’m glad I got to try it out while I had the chance.

That evening I came out to find my Norwegian roommate had constructed this magnificent specimen:

Which was a fitting end to a fun day. I’ve left him with the task of constructing another one just outside the window of an unsuspecting resident, whereupon he is to tap on the glass and run like hell.

The Flight Home

I managed to catch up with Nard again on my way home, a fellow member of AVRFreaks. Nard was kind enough to take the train in and meet me at the Amsterdam airport quite early for a coffee on my way up to Norway back in December, and I was delighted to find out that he was willing to make the trek again on my return trip. I’m still rather taken aback at the completely lax border control and customs control at Amsterdam when compared to the draconian Australian system (fun fact: everyone I talked to watches the Australian show Border Security in Europe) as I was essentially just waved off the plane and into the main terminal arrivals hall.

Here I made a rather dumb mistake, by asking the security guard how much time I would need to allot for getting back in through security to board my next flight, “as I’m going to meet my friend at the coffee shop”. Yes, I claim extreme fatigue. For those not in the know, Amsterdam is the one place, the one place on Earth where the phrase “coffee shop” isn’t associated with the black stuff everyone at Atmel drank like it was water. No, in Amsterdam a “coffee shop” is the euphemism for a (legal, at least over there) dope smoking establishment. Cue rambling explanation from me, although the guard took it in stride after he worked out I was just another dumb foreigner.

I’ll say it again: screw the Kuala Lumpur airport – that piece of junk is the worst design in the history of all airport designs, with it’s three chairs you can sit on without paying, split terminal and bajillion stores blocking your path. An airport should be about planes, with a few shops thrown in, and not the other way around.

A good twenty something hours later, and I was finally back in my bed at home, ready to sleep after over forty hours staying awake.

I’ve plenty more to write about, but that should do it for now. Stay tuned for LUFA port news!