November 13-16, 2003: My Palm Springs getaway As an early 28th birthday present to myself, and because I needed a vacation, I skipped off for a quick weekend to Palm Springs. A full narrative will hopefully be posted here... eventually... but in the meantime you can view a skeletal photo album.

Hello! I'm Aviva Starkman, and welcome to my Art Deco home page. A little about me: I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, attended the Hebrew Academy, Yeshiva High School, and then Georgia Tech. On December 20, 1996, I graduated from Tech with highest honors, with my Bachelors of Computer Engineering degree.

At the end of February 1997 I moved to Los Angeles to work at TRW Space and Electronics (now, Northrop Grumman Space Technology). I can't believe I've been here seven years!

At work, I've done ASIC design and become one of our two resident Built-In Self Test experts. When I had my own office (I'm back in the cubicle farm now...), the nameplate on my door read: "Aviva Starkman, your friendly neighborhood BIST engineer". In December 2002 I completed my Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering at USC. These days I'm trying my hand at systems architecture and unit design for a program called TCM. Read TCM's press release.

When not working, you'll usually find me doing something active. I practice savate which is French kickboxing. Last summer I took up running, too, and am really starting to like that. It's good for my kickboxing - builds endurance - and hey, L.A. is blessed with the kind of weather that you can be outdoors running all year round. Unfortunately, much of this year I have been sidelined, battling one injury after the next. It has been very frustrating to say the least! Two groups I run with are Track Club L.A. and the Niketown Running Club.

September 12, 2004

The weekend before Rosh Hashanah was the savate L.A. Cup. Coming off my running injuries, and with virtually no sparring practice, I fought Tina - and lost. Well, at least I got in the ring and tried! A picture from our match is currently posted on the home page of the California Savate Association.

August 8, 2004

Glove testing time again... I advanced to the level of white glove, first degree.

July 11, 2004

Finally on the rebound from my February injury, I ran a "speedy" (for me, at least) 5k this morning in El Segundo's Keep L.A. Running race, clocking in just under 26 minutes. To my surprise, that was fast enough to place third in my age division!

July 8, 2004

I have belatedly posted two photos from our Memorial Day weekend Hachnassas Sefer Torah (torah dedication) in Atlanta.

May 9, 2004 Feeling the need to "get away", I had myself an interesting adventure to Saddleback Butte State Park today.

March 15, 2004

I just published my first poem at poetry.com. It's called Alone at Dusk. E-mail me and tell me what you think.

February 29, 2004

Savate competition at the new Bodies In Motion... I lost my match in a split decision, but that's okay. See some photos here.

February 8, 2004

Today there was a savate seminar and glove testing. I earned my red glove! Red is the third of the six ranks in savate.

February 1, 2004

Today I ran in the Redondo Beach Super Bowl 10k road race. My time was 52:51 - good job, Aviva!

My current passion is savate, also known as boxe Francais - French kickboxing. The California Savate Association is our local organization.

Visit Los Angeles's Silent Movie Theatre, the only silent cinema in the USA.

The better part of this year I followed the web log of a stranger, but fellow Californian, Scott Kyle as he trained to swim across the English Channel. Captivating story.

I just discovered this wonderful history of the roots of the Jewish Community of Atlanta - my hometown!