*phew* so after a lot of sweat and panic and speculation, we finally figured out what was wrong with the MCE in the chip. it didn't take long; i give massive props to M for his idea of stepping through the boot cycle and seeing where the register write/read failed. with the software debugger, it was easy to see where things went wrong, and WHAM-O! it was a glaring misprogramming that was the culprit. it turns out that they ported over some old code with a hard number programmed instead of a symbolic field name, and that put the MCE into a diagnostic memory test mode. *eureka* so now the block works hunky dory, and we're getting massive props for getting things back on track. i am giddy. successfully debugging something is a great way to get a rush. :)
i'm glad we got this out of the way because that means i don't have to come in during the weekend. when i got to work today, there were tons of e-mails in my inbox. our team was in "crisis" mode, and we were asked to work 7-day weeks. chip bringup time is always a stressful period, and it's even more stressful for us because we have demos to show to our customers.
so yeah, i went to the dentist today. it hurt more than usual. at one point, the cleaning lady even had to stop because i was in so much pain and had to gather my wits. even now, my teeth and gums are totally sore. she used a lot of the hook, but what hurt the most was when the water pick hit my gums. ouchie! i tasted quite a bit of my own blood during the process, too. man, i fucking hate going to the dentist.
i had a very vivid dream last night that one of my ex's was cheating on her husband with me. it was actually kind of exciting, being in an illicit love affair, sneaking around and hoping to not get caught. but then, somehow the plot turned into a situation where one of my friends had to get his left ringer finger get cut off. it was really gross and disturbing, and the shock of the moment woke me up. the image of the finger being cut off stayed in my brain for a long time, and it took me a long time to shake it out of my head before falling asleep again.
i actually know where i got the bit of the finger cutting from my memory banks. it's from this old tv series with chow yun-fat way back when he was very young, called _shanghai triad_ or something like that. in that show, there's a part where he gets to escape this mob boss, and in exchange, he has to give up his left pinky finger to the guy who lets him escape.
i am glad that _american idol_ is close to ending. this season has been pretty boring, the talent isn't as good, and i have been kind of cross that it takes up two nights of my week. and what's worse the results shows are an hour long, and they could easily make them half an hour; the rest is fluff. oh well. two more weeks, and i can wash my hands of this series.
does spunk sting when it gets in your eyes? i was watching this miko lee clip yesterday, and at the end of it, she gets this huge wad of spooge shot in her eye. she didn't complain, but i've heard from a friend that it really hurts. hm. does anyone know?
ok. today's been a good day. a lot was accomplished, i feels like. but then again, but solution was the simple change from a "4" in the code to an "8". so easy, yet to huge. funny how such a small thing makes such a huge difference.