Blogs – joey gaffney

My Dad

My dad always had the answers to everything. When I was young he taught me to read. I asked him how to pronounce different words and what they meant. He was very good with words. I used to ask him to do work puzzles for me whenever I couldn’t figure them out. He could solveContinue reading “My Dad”

Deck List HOF

Here are the lists that I have played to some success at tournaments throughout my career. I will try to include some insights as well. It will be sorted from most recent. 2024-2025 Season This season they changed the invite structure to only award invites to the top 125 players in North America as opposedContinue reading “Deck List HOF”

The Rarest Pokémon Card You’ve Never Heard Of

The Pokémon Trading Card Game has been around since 1996. Since then, over 43.2 billion cards have been sold worldwide. You may have heard of some rare ones like the 1st edition PSA 10 Shadowless Base Set Charizard that sold for $420,000 USD last March (2022). If you’re truly in the know then you mightContinue reading “The Rarest Pokémon Card You’ve Never Heard Of”

science world: robotics instructor

In Vancouver, Science World is one of the local landmarks that makes up the city scape. It is the big dome in the sky that everyone points at when they ride the Skytrain from Main Street to Stadium Chinatown. It is also the hub of science communication and outreach education in British Columbia. In myContinue reading “science world: robotics instructor”

is engineering physics worth it?

I just finished a degree that took SIX YEARS. High school isn’t even six years! And it wasn’t smooth sailing either, at times I had to take up to seven courses in a term. But I’m finally finished and upon reflection there’s just one question to answer: was it all worth it? To answer this,Continue reading “is engineering physics worth it?”

Undergraduate Physics Paper 1

The cool thing about doing an engineering physics degree is working on cool complex projects for one class while also discovering cool new physics in another. I have written a lot of papers throughout my degree and instead of letting them die in my Google Drive, I thought it would be interesting to publish them here to look back on later. Enjoy!

ct rubik’s cube

So I took a CT scan of a Rubik’s cube…

co-op 3 – avigilon: pcb design

For my third co-op I worked at Avigilon – a Motorola Solutions Company. Avigilon is a Vancouver-based security camera company that was bought out by Motorola Solutions in 2018 for a whopping $1.28 billion. I was starting my co-op in early 2020 which is significant for two reasons: So, I accepted the offer in earlyContinue reading “co-op 3 – avigilon: pcb design”

learning and memorization… with cubes!

A lot of people have asked me how I learn/memorize things for school. However, learning and memorization are two very different things. I thought that it would be good to explain the power of each of these tools using cubing as an example. I started speedcubing when I was in grade 11. It was partContinue reading “learning and memorization… with cubes!”

what is engineering physics?

Hi. If you didn’t already know, I am currently in my fifth year studying engineering physics at UBC. Now the most common question that I get asked when people hear this is: “what is engineering physics?” This is fair. I didn’t know about the program until halfway through my first year at UBC. The nameContinue reading “what is engineering physics?”