The Incessant Ramblings of a Future Engineer

MySpace

2007-07-06T00:27:00.000-07:00

I spend most of time blogging on MySpace, but thought I'd add a post here to make sure this blog stays active. I mostly blog about politics and religion. The older I get, the more open-minded I get. Of course, this means that I am more opinionated than ever as well, but I love to hear comments from both sides. So check out my other blog (just click the title of this post) and let me know what you think. Thanks.

A Life Lost, An Angel Gained

2006-11-06T03:18:00.000-08:00

It's been about 32 hours now since Sean died. He recently discovered that he had a brain tumor and went in for surgery to have it removed. He commented that, "This proves them wrong. I do have a brain." His wife, 16 year old daughter, and 4 year old daughter watched as he passed away. If ever there was an example of unfairness in this world, here it is.

People can talk all they want about a fair, just, and loving God. But that's all it is...just talk. Some people will say that God just wanted Sean with Him. Bullshit. If that's the cases, then God is a selfish SOB. He has a daughter who said she didn't want her daddy to be dead and asked if he would be alive again tomorrow. He has a 16 year old daughter who loves him more than anything in this world. He has always been her rock.

A great man has departed us, and humanity is less for it. His wife said of him, "My hubby is Sean, he treats me like a queen, and [no one] has ever made me feel as happy as he does. He's one of the most caring, passionate, and yet still somehow "manly" [men]."

That's the Sean I knew. I don't pretend to have known him really well. He was an acquaintance though, and his daughter is like family to my wife and me. I still here his voice in my head. He was passionate about life and I hope that his family can continue his passion. Below is a picture of Sean with his youngest daughter. Though not his biological daughter, he was still her daddy. I am also enclosing a poem that I wrote upon learning of the imminence of his departure. Sean, if you can see this, you will be greatly missed by everyone whose life was touched (even in the smallest way) by you.

A Father's Love
-Dedicated to Patricia and Alicia-
02 Nov 2006
TJA

No matter where we go in life
One fact still remains
A father's love will touch us
And we'll never be the same

When we question things in life
He gives us words to ponder
He is always there for us
To guide us when we wander

He will always catch us
If we should ever stumble
He'll be there to rescue us
When our lives begins to crumble

The thing about a father's love
Is that it never ends
Even when he's gone
From Heaven it extends

It's okay to mourn his loss
Because he is well-loved
But remember he is still
Watching from above

He'll be there in times of need
Whispering in the wind
And when you are feeling pain
He'll be there listening

A father's heart has no limit
To the amount of love it gives
It will envelop you
When you are plaintive

A father's love isn't bound
By the constraints of this world
For it reaches from the Heavens
When it is unfurled

Patricia and Alicia
Sean's love is without equal
This is not the end
But the beginning of the sequel

Interesting Correlation

2006-10-12T14:10:00.000-07:00

These two maps were recently brought to my attention, so I thought I'd share them with you. By the way, I very rarely post on here anymore, usually only to upload files for use on MySpace. If you want to catch my currently updated blog, check out http://www.myspace.com/travis__james(That's with two underscores). Thanks.

Make Sure You Vote

2006-10-10T02:03:00.000-07:00

Election time is quickly approaching. I won't tell you to vote for the Democrats, but I will ask you not to vote for the Republicans. :-) Honestly, vote how you want, it's your right and duty.

Rock the Vote

test again

2006-05-23T19:46:00.001-07:00

test again

2006-05-23T19:46:00.000-07:00

Anyone still there?

2006-05-23T18:41:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if anyone reads this anymore or not since I rarely post. I just registered for Fall classes today. I will only have 14 credits...yippee! I am taking ENGR 111 (Statics) which will cover the analysis of forces induced in structures and machines by various types of loading; ENGR 201 (Electrical Fundamentals I) which will cover analysis of linear circuits, circuit laws and theorems, DC and sinusoidal responses of circuits, and operational amplifier characteristics and applications; PH 212 (General Physics with Calculus) which covers mechanics, wave motion, thermal physics, electromagnetism, and optics; and CS 261 (Data Structures) which covers complexity analysis, approximation methods, trees and graphs, file processing binary search trees, hashing, and storage management.

Well, I have 3 midterms tomorrow, so I am going to go for now so I can make out a notecard for one class and study for the other two. Talk to you later.

September 11th---controversy and humanity

2006-05-16T23:42:00.000-07:00

I would hate to be called what I have called so many others, but if you must, call me a conspiracy theorist. I was happy with the government's version of 9/11 until I happened across a video that a friend told me about. It is quite an eye opener. Even if you don't agree with all that is in the video, you should still watch it. You will be challenged in your thinking and will learn some important information. You can view the video at:

9/11 Controversy

I would be remiss in not reminding people of the senseless tragedies that occurred on that day in 2001. Take 4 minutes out of your day and watch the video at the following link. It will surely touch your heart, especially if you have children:

Daddy, I miss you

test page

2006-05-06T23:28:00.000-07:00

This is just a test page for some myspace wallpapers.

Alas, I have done it

2006-05-04T22:32:00.000-07:00

I broke down and started a place on myspace. I didn't want to, but I have been able to find people I haven't talked to in years because there are over 7 million users. Anyhow, my spot is located at http://myspace.com/travis__james if you want to check it out. I will warn you, music will start to play when the page loads. My music selection changes quite often, so you may want to turn down the speakers because it may be loud and it may be something you don't like. :-) Following is a picture I found online. It is quite insensitive, but that never stops us from telling jokes, so her it is:

Happy Easter / Birthday

2006-04-20T02:20:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was my daughter's 4th birthday. My wife and I took her to see the Wiggles in concert at the Rose Garden in Portland. For those who have never heard of them, you can find info about them by googling "Wiggles." Anyway, they are middle-aged men from Australia with backgrounds in music and degrees in Early Childhood Education / Development. They are very entertaining, and I have never seen a bigger smile on my daughter's face. There was a lot of singing and dancing, and a couple of the guys came out into the crowd, walking inches from us. Their songs are very catchy, the characters are very colorful and entertaining, and the whole show was educational. If you have younger children you, should really check them out. They even have a show on the Disney Channel, as well as plenty of DVD's and CD's. The weekend ended with my daughter saying, "This is a great birthday!"

School is going okay. I am keeping busy with homework, labs, recitation assignments, and some studying. Computer programming is probably the most time- and thought-intensive class I have. That's not to say the others are any easier...just less intense.

It is getting late and I really should get some sleep so I am awake for my recitations and labs. Have a wonderful weekend...I'm sure I will.

School's back in full-swing

2006-04-10T14:15:00.001-07:00

Someone's been having too much fun creating these. I am now in my second week of Spring term. I had to enroll in a physics recitation which was not attached to my class, so I am now taking 17 credits this term. If I survive, I'll be happy. Right now in Java II we are programming an applet that could be used to order pizza on the web by checking boxes next to toppings and having your total computed instantly. In Digital Logic Design, we are doing mathematical operations in binary, octal, and hexadecimal systems as well as analyzing logic circuits. In Physics, we are still going over vectors and starting to get into kinematics. In Vector Calculus II, we have finished reviewing vectors and are now reviewing polar, cylindrical, and spherical coordinates. Our homework for this week was to solve a differential equation:

We were given a circuit with two resistors( 3 ohms and 5 ohms) and a current of 2 amps. We were told that the 3 ohm resistor increases by .5 ohms per second and the 5 ohm resistor decreases by .1 ohms per second, and the current increases by .01 amps per second. We needed to find the rate at which the voltage is changing (which I solved to be .381 volts per second.

Well, I think I am going to nap for awhile looking of my Java assignment and ECE lab for tomorrow.

2006-04-10T14:15:00.000-07:00

Spring Break Is Almost Over

2006-03-30T22:46:00.000-08:00

Below are updated photos of my Tekbot taken with my Nikon Digital camera, so the quality is much better than with my cell phone. To view close up, click on the image.

I finished Winter term with a 3.04 GPA. I got a B in Discrete Math, a C- in Applied Differential Equations, an A- in Java programming, and an A in Engineering. School starts again on Monday...can't wait (sarcasm). Well, I am gonna go for now. I get to spend the day with my daughter tomorrow.

Dead Week or Dead Weak?

2006-03-17T11:08:00.000-08:00

Sorry if the pictures aren't great, I took them in low light with a camera phone. This is my Tekbot, which I am working on for school. Right now, it just consists of the charger board, analog control board, sensor board, and motor control board. Currently, it is just a Bump Bot: if it hits an obstacle, it reverses turns and goes forward again. I have the part to add IR sensor so it will reverse before actually hitting objects, but I have not programmed the IC yet. Perhaps next term.

It is Friday of dead week. Is it dead week because you don't do much, or is it dead week because you are dead tired from the term? Next week I have finals (2 on Tuesday and 2 on Thursday. Since I have no class on Monday (just a help session for Applied Differential Equations in the afternoon), I don't have to leave at 5:00am to get back to Corvallis. Well, I am going to start packing up for the weekend and grab some food. Adios.

Why Women Don't (Usually) Barbecue

2006-03-13T19:42:00.000-08:00

My family loves the barbecue. Occasionally, I will pick up some nice tri-tips, trim them up a bit, add some seasoning salt and throw them on the grill. Even my daughter, who is a picky eater, loves the meat, as long as I don't over season it for her. In fact, last night I used the BBQ to do just that. My wife bought a steak tonight and was contemplating whether to use her George Foreman Grill (which tends to leave the meat dry) or use the big grill. After stepping her through the basics on the phone (since I am, of course, in Corvallis) all was going well. A short time later, I received a frantic phone call telling me that flames were coming out the front of the grill, and asking what to do. Not being able to see the goings-on for myself, I calmly told her to turn the gas off, which did not go over well. With more frantic conversation ensuing, I told her to grab the fire extinguisher from the garage and use it (which she did quite well, judging from the picture). All is calm now, but apparently, my grill was engulfed in flames and the knobs are no longer existent. This is a good time to ask who decided to use plastic when making grills? Anyway, this is what's left of the grill. I am obviously going to get a new one for the summer so we can start grilling again. I love my wife, and she knows I am only giving her a hard time, but this is why the grilling should be left to the men. In my family, I know this won't be a problem. She doesn't even want to own another grill.

Another Midterm Down the Crapper

2006-03-09T13:10:00.000-08:00

For those who are interested, this is what we are doing in math right now (although this exact image is from a course taught elsewhere). I got my midterm II back in math today. I fared better than my first midterm, but still bombed. On the first one, I got a 28.3%. On this one I got a 51.7%. How's that for improvement?? The thing that sucks is that I have to get a C- in this class to pass, and all we are graded on is our midterms and final (plus a tiny bit from recitation quizzes). I am looking at a miracle if I want to pass. Granted, part of the problem is my understanding. However, part of it is also due to the damn Honor students taking this class who are jacking up the curve. Damn them! Oh well. I am not one to worry much, I just hope I don't get to retake this course another term...or perhaps I do...no! If I can pass and be done with it, I will be happy. Gotta run...have school and all.

My Daughter

2006-03-07T17:19:00.000-08:00

Keeping with my latest tradition, here as an ad for Windows XP with firewall. It should only take a minute to get the picture. If you still don't get it, then XP with firewall is probably perfect for you.

I just had my last midterm today. Only two more weeks in this term. Then it'll be a short week of spring break and back to school again. The nice thing will be getting to spend a week with my wife and daughter. My daughter is almost four now and she is so much fun to be with at this age. She is absorbing everything like a sponge and loves learning. This past weekend she asked me the name of my town. I told her Corvallis, and she repeated, "Cordallis." I told her she was close but it was "CorVallis." Then I could hear her in the back seat of the car saying, "Corvallis" over and over. She is beginning to learn to play checkers. It's a challenge explaining that her pieces can only go on one color. She has discovered The Threee Billy Goats Gruff, a book I grew up with. She starts reciting parts of the book before I can get to them and we both end up laughing.

My wife may enroll her in preschool soon. She loves learning, so it only makes sense to get her into a loosely structured learning environment for part of the day. Since it's a small town, there are limited spaces, so we are hoping she can get in. Well, I suppose that's enough for now. Have a wonderful day.

Inefficiencies with "Higher Education" in Oregon

2006-03-01T19:59:00.000-08:00

If you want to see my schedule for next term, here it is. It should be pretty intense: 20.5 hours in the classroom, 6 of which are labs, 2.5 recitations, and the other 12 lecture.

I have a gripe. I am still taking midterms...yes, this is week 5 of midterms and I still have another next week. Six weeks of midterms in all. And the term is only 11 weeks!! It makes no sense. We don't learn anything because every week we are focused on a test which makes up between 15-33% of our final grade. In states that use the semester system, they get 16 weeks and only 1 midterm per class.

Another gripe concerns Southwestern Oregon Community College (is it SOCC or SUCC??). I had nothing but problems with them...EVERY single term it was something different...some new form that had to be filled out because it "disappeared," etc. One term they actually enrolled another guy in all of my classes instead of me. Anyway, Kristi was all set to graduate after completing her current chemistry class. Hell, her advisor and the transcript lady even SIGNED OFF on her graduation application. Then she gets a call today because a new requirement was added to the curriculum...another course so she can no longer graduate. What the hell??!! It's the most messed up crap I've ever heard.

It's hard enough to complete your education with the cuts in education spending and hikes in student loan interest rates, but then they have to pull crap like this. That's me 2 cents.

I am still using Linux and enjoying the stability. There are a few times when I think it would just be easier to go back to the familiar, but then I realize what crap Microsoft is. I have had to tweak my computer a bit to get somethings to work, and others work amazingly easier without Windows. One issue I have, and it's with Apple, is that I cannot currently play my LEGALLY downloaded music on my computer because they have created their iTunes so that it will not work on Linux. In fact, when people have cracked it and found ways for Linux users to PURCHASE music from their music store, they fix the "hole." So my iPod sits here, incapable of receiving new songs. I can only play the ones currently on it. Apparently Apple is trying to force people to resort to illegal downloads that do not have the DRM (digital rights management) attached to the songs.

Well, my blog entry has been stunningly negative, so I will go for now. I have an engineering lab to type up and a computer program to finish writing.

Veni Vidi Vici

2006-02-17T00:09:00.000-08:00

I finally did it folks. Windows is gone...off my computer. I already notice a difference in how much faster my computer is running. On top of that, my new OS is using about 4GB of hard drive space. On Microsoft's page, they claim that you only need 1.5GB of hard drive space for the install, but I am telling you that is a lie. Prior to deleting the partitions and installing Ubuntu, I uninstalled almost everything on the computer and deleted all personal files and still had 14GB being used, of which I claim MS was using 10GB. At any rate, Life is better. I am new and still finding my way around but the fact that the shell is similar to UNIX with some commands similar to the old DOS, I can do some basics when it comes to searching for and running commands from the terminal. The GUI is similar to a Windows GUI, but it is crisper and cleaner and easier to find your way around. I am heading to bed as soon as I have Eclipse installed. Then my computing life will be complete.

Linux is coming...

2006-02-15T19:27:00.000-08:00

I have finally had it with Windows. I am getting tired of all the errors and the general lack of control I have of my own computer. First, there's the blue screen of death (you know..."An error has occurred"). Why doesn't Microsoft just say the &*%$ed up your computer? Second, I often get "dynamic library" errors while running Windows Media Player. When I try to stop USB devices, I am often told that it cannot be stopped because a program or application is using it, even when I have manually closed down as many Windows tasks as I can without freezing the computer. Also, Windows crashed on me recently when coming out of hibernation and messed up my web browser so bookmarks don't work. Today I wanted to open my DVD drive to take a BLANK disc out, but Windows would not let me because an application was supposedly using data on the BLANK disc. I have backed up all my personal files and have checked availability of the applications I use for Linux.

I will likely have Windows XP removed within the next week. I am going to install the Ubuntu version of Linux, which should make my life easier. The only drawback for me is that I will be a "newbie" to Linux. I have lived most of my computing days with Windows (versions 3.11, 95, 98, 2000, NT, ME, XP Home, and XP Pro). I have little to fear though. Once I start using it and familiarize myself with it, I'll forget the name of that Redmond company. My understanding of Linux with be about the same as most people's understanding of Windows.

Most flavors of Linux have a GUI, so it is similar in ease of use with menus, tabs, etc. The difference is that the software is open source...no $200 fee to Microsoft whenever they decide to change their operating system (which is coming soon). Also, the majority of software for Linux is open source and is of no cost to users. The best part is, because the programs are not proprietary, anyone and everyone can work on the code to make them better and more secure. With proprietary software (most of the software you purchase for your Windows system), the company doesn't want just anyone poking around the programming. Therefore, you don't have a collaboration of people working to find and fix flaws. Also, with big company, big flaws can be quite costly so they may never disclose just how bad they are. With open source software, this is not the case. You can find open source software for any system, but the fact that Linux is open source says a quite a bit about the potential for better stability and security. I'll now step off my soap box for now. I will update you on how the crossover to Linux is going.

Midterms...still in progress..ughh!!

2006-02-08T21:43:00.000-08:00

Yes, midterms are still in progress. I have already taken exams for computer science and for discrete mathematics. Friday is my differential equation exam, and next Tuesday will be the one for engineering. The messed up thing is that my differential equation class is by far the hardest I have, not because DE's are inherently difficult, but because our brilliant professor has no idea how to teach. We get more out of our 1 hour recitation each week than we get from our 3 hours of class. Anyway, the class is hard, the exam is Friday, and today was the last class before the exam...a review day. Well, It was supposed to be. My roommate and I dragged ourselves out of bed this morning, preparing from some review for the exam. Instead, we were greeted by a note on the door, "MTH 256 Cancelled Today". Son-of-a-sasquatch! The most important class yet, and it is cancelled. Needless to say, no one was very thrilled.

I finished my computer project, which isn't due until Friday. It feels great to have that out of the way. Basically, the program we wrote had to roll a die 500,000 times, count how many times each number was rolled, as well as print the numbers that were rolled most and least frequently. The program consisted of 2 files. I will include it in case you want to see just how much work is involved in such a "simple" task. If you couldn't care less, skip over the yellow text below.

Proj3.java:

/*
* Travis Arnzen
* CS 161
* 12:30 Recitation
* Hoveland
*/

public class Proj3 {
/**
* Execution starts here
* @param args optional parameters used when invoking this program from the command line
*/
public static void main(String[] args) {
MyDie aDie = new MyDie();
aDie.testRandomness(500000);
}

}

myDie.java:

import java.util.Random;

public class MyDie {
private int howManySides = 6; //sets number of die sides
public int howManyRolls = 0; //sets roll count to zero
Random rand = new Random(); //initializes a random object

public MyDie() {
}

public int roll() {

// Put your code inside this method.
// Don't put your code in any other place in this class
// Use the rand variable. Don't instantiate another Random object.

int randInt = rand.nextInt(howManySides); //stores into value of random object
randInt++; //increments randInt

howManyRolls++; //increments howManyRolls

return randInt; //returns int value of random object
}

public void testRandomness (int noOfRolls){

int rolledOne = 0; //These ints will store the roll counts for each number
int rolledTwo = 0;
int rolledThree = 0;
int rolledFour = 0;
int rolledFive = 0;
int rolledSix = 0;

for(int i=0; i

int aRoll = roll(); //will store the value of the roll in an int

if (aRoll == 1) //these if-statements increment
rolledOne++; //the counts for the corresponding rolls

if (aRoll == 2)
rolledTwo++;

if (aRoll == 3)
rolledThree++;

if (aRoll == 4)
rolledFour++;

if (aRoll == 5)
rolledFive++;

if (aRoll == 6)
rolledSix++;
}

System.out.println("1's " + rolledOne); //these print-statements print out
System.out.println("2's " + rolledTwo); //number of times each number was rolled
System.out.println("3's " + rolledThree);
System.out.println("4's " + rolledFour);
System.out.println("5's " + rolledFive);
System.out.println("6's " + rolledSix);

int sumOfRolls = rolledOne + rolledTwo + rolledThree + rolledFour + rolledFive + rolledSix;
//stores sum of all rolls

System.out.println("Total of " + sumOfRolls + " rolls."); //prints number of times die is rolled

int minRoll = rolledOne; //sets minRoll to value of 1's. It is compared to the
//other rolls, and the one with fewest occurrences is
//stored to minRoll
if(minRoll > rolledTwo)
minRoll = rolledTwo;

if(minRoll > rolledThree)
minRoll = rolledThree;

if(minRoll > rolledFour)
minRoll = rolledFour;

if(minRoll > rolledFive)
minRoll = rolledFive;

if(minRoll > rolledSix)
minRoll = rolledSix;

if (minRoll == rolledOne) //these statements will print the number rolled the
//fewest times with the number of times it was rolled

System.out.println("One had " + rolledOne + " occurrences.");

if (minRoll == rolledTwo)
System.out.println("Two had " + rolledTwo + " occurrences.");

if (minRoll == rolledThree)
System.out.println("Three had " + rolledThree + " occurrences.");

if (minRoll == rolledFour)
System.out.println("Four had " + rolledFour + " occurrences.");

if (minRoll == rolledFive)
System.out.println("Five had " + rolledFive + " occurrences.");

if (minRoll == rolledSix)
System.out.println("Six had " + rolledSix + " occurrences.");

int maxRoll = rolledOne; //sets maxRoll to value of 1's. It is compared to the
//other rolls, and the one with most occurrences is
//stored to maxRoll

if(maxRoll <>
maxRoll = rolledTwo;

if(maxRoll <>
maxRoll = rolledThree;

if(maxRoll <>
maxRoll = rolledFour;

if(maxRoll <>
maxRoll = rolledFive;

if(maxRoll <>
maxRoll = rolledSix;

if (maxRoll == rolledOne) //these statements will print the number rolled the
//most times with the number of times it was rolled

System.out.println("One had " + rolledOne + " occurrences.");

if (maxRoll == rolledTwo)
System.out.println("Two had " + rolledTwo + " occurrences.");

if (maxRoll == rolledThree)
System.out.println("Three had " + rolledThree + " occurrences.");

if (maxRoll == rolledFour)
System.out.println("Four had " + rolledFour + " occurrences.");

if (maxRoll == rolledFive)
System.out.println("Five had " + rolledFive + " occurrences.");

if (maxRoll == rolledSix)
System.out.println("Six had " + rolledSix + " occurrences.");
}
}

Have you guys been paying attention to all the uproar in the Muslim world over the cartoons that have been published? If you don't know what I am talking about, look at any news source because it is all over the world news. The stir has been caused by some printed cartoons that were tasteless and blasphemous. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but this is my blog, so I will humbly include mine. Freedom of speech is a right (in many countries), and a very good one. However, just because something can be done, doesn't imply that it should be done. In our high school yearbook, we (seniors) were able to include a quote. Mine always made sense to me, but I find it most fitting in this situation. It is a quote from Charles Kingsley, "There are two freedoms; The false, where man is free to do what he likes; The true, where man is free to do what he ought." Now ask yourself which freedom the media has been exercising. If you don't understand the steps we have taken backwards since 9/11 in our attitudes and treatment of Muslims and Islam, take a look at this "informative" article which appeared today in our school newspaper:

The Islamic double-standard

by Nathanael Blake

“There is certainly freedom in America to deride Christ. This is done every day on Broadway, and every other day in Hollywood. Americans do not take up arms in protest.”

— William F. Buckley Jr.

With his usual insight, Buckley has located the dog that not only isn’t barking, but has apparently taken an eternal vow of silence. As Muslim mobs torch embassies and Muslim governments begin boycotts in response to European newspapers’ publication of cartoons mocking Mohammad, there has been little surprise at such savagery.

There have been plenty of platitudes about respect and dialogue, many mealy-mouthed statements about the value of a free press, and bountiful bromides about tolerance. What there hasn’t been is any serious inquiry into the special status Islam enjoys.

Let Christians so much as stage a peaceful protest against the latest “art” to blaspheme Christianity, and the liberal media chorus will issue a cacophony of condemnation. Not at the offending art, of course, or the tasteless artist, but at those bourgeoisie boobs who had the audacity to display disgust at the demeaning of their religion. Art, we are told, exists to break taboos and transgress standards.

And Christianity is considered ripe for ridicule, as it is thought Puritanical and hierarchical, repressive and patriarchal. Islam, of course, possesses such attributes in spades (Sura 4:38: but chide [women] for whose refractoriness ye have cause to fear … and scourge them), but it’s awfully gauche to say so. Also, doing so isn’t nearly so safe as Christian-baiting; there’s no Moral Majority equivalent of Mohammad Bouyeri, the chap who butchered Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh for making a film critical of Islam.

When Muslims worldwide go on violent rampages over a few caricatures published in a newspaper they would never have heard of otherwise, no one is surprised, and the storm of disapprobation that would arise if anyone else did such a thing is forestalled. Bluntly put, we expect Muslims to behave barbarously: Muslims die in protests over supposed insults to Islam, ho-hum.

Saudi Arabia has recalled its envoy to Denmark in response to the cartoon kerfuffle, blathering about how showing such disrespect for Islam is unacceptable. I would suggest to the Saudi government that if they want me to show their pedophile prophet (yes, Mohammad first had sex with his favorite wife when she was nine and he was in his fifties) any respect, they ought to make it legal to publicly practice my religion in their kingdom. Not executing Muslims who convert to other religions would also be good.

Notes Victor Davis Hanson, “Ever since that seminal death sentence handed down to Salman Rushdie by the Iranian theocracy, the Western world has incrementally and insidiously accepted these laws of asymmetry … the Muslim Middle East can insist on one standard of behavior for itself and quite another for others.” We are not, he acridly points out, “to remember that Hamas terrorists occupied and desecrated the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in a globally televised charade.” In that case, the Vatican declined to call another Crusade in response.

When I read passages in the Koran like Sura 8:40: “fight then against [the infidels] till strife be at an end, and the religion be all of it God’s,” I started doubting the “religion of peace” cant. Perhaps this “peace” is the peace of the grave.

Christianity grew on the blood of its martyrs; Islam grew on the blood of its enemies. The only combatant a modern Muslim martyr is sure of killing is himself; he prefers that the others be women and children.

Oh, I’m sorry; I forgot that those extremists don’t represent the majority of Muslims, who are kind and peaceable. I suppose that I’ll have to suppress the knowledge that the Palestinian majority just elected a terrorist group to govern them.

There are, to be sure, individual Muslims who are quite nice, and even a few Muslim countries that aren’t run by tyrannical kleptocrats or theocrats. But on average, Islamic nations are oppressive and poor.

The problem with Islam is that it is an immanentist religion. While Christianity teaches that the kingdom of God is not of this world, Islam holds that it is the duty of Muslims to bring the kingdom of God to this world. Islam allows no distinction between religious and governmental authority, and proclaims that good Muslims will always triumph over their infidel enemies. That’s hardly a metaphysical view that inclines toward tolerance and religious freedom.

If Muslims are incapable of separating the political from the spiritual, then both the right and the left are going to have to examine some of their favorite views. Conservatives need to take a hard look at whether the Muslim Middle East really can be remade in a free, democratic image. I used to think so, but now I’m skeptical.

Liberals, meanwhile, need to consider if their vision of multiculturalism is really possible, or whether it will succumb to what Leszek Kolakowski called “The self-poisoning of the open society.”

Finally, the “moderate” Muslims that are constantly touted need to demonstrate that they have the will and ability to lead their religion out of barbarism.

Nathanael Blake is a senior in microbiology. The opinions expressed in his columns, which appear every Wednesday, do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Barometer staff. Blake can be reached at forum@dailybarometer.com.

Anyway, this blog entry is quite long, rather dull, and should probably come to an end for the night. I hope I have been at least informative if nothing else. Have a great day.

Midterms are coming, midterms are coming

2006-01-27T23:12:00.000-08:00

The picture is of Russell Peters, one of the funniest comedians I have ever heard. He lives in Canada and is Indian (that is Indian, not Native American).

This weekend the storms are raging here in Oregon...high winds and a lot of rain. Even our cell phone service has been going in and out.

Tomorrow I get to paint the floor in our business. It's an annual ritual and I would feel lost if I was not a part of the process.

I have gotten a bit of work done on my Tekbot. My charger board is complete and I am currently working on an extra credit project, getting an LED read-out to indicate the battery level I have left. The LED I will be using is similar to a clock radio. Each digit is displayed by a combination of 7 LEDs. Anyhow, when I get a bit more done on that project, I will post a picture of it.

Well, I forgot to bring the AC adaptor home with me this weekend, so my time on the laptop is very limited. It is still Friday night and I have less than 2-1/2 hours left on the battery, so I will go for now.

Math Sucks

2006-01-10T23:57:00.000-08:00

Math pretty much sucks. One math class is taught by a nice doctor from Poland. I'm sure it will be challenging, but she seems to have a sense of humor and enjoys mathematics. The other math teacher, for whom we are required to purchase the above described book, I kindly refer to as "Nazi Santa," due to his attitude toward the students and his rotundness. Java programming will be much easier this term and our recitations will be hands on programming in the computer lab, much better than last term's boring lectures which left you wondering what you supposedly learned. Engineering will be some work, but should be enoyable as well because we get our Tekbots in our first lab and get to begin building and personalizing our robots. That's all I have for now. I'm going to head to bed so I can get some sleep before class.

I still have internet

2006-01-09T01:02:00.000-08:00

With MLK Day approaching I thought this might be an appropriate picture to post. I'd also like to thank Ashley for having the ability to name her wireless network after herself, but not the sense to secure it. Since my house is temporarily without internet service, she is kindly within the range of my apparently good network card and is sharing her bandwidth with me.

Class starts at 10am with Diff EQs, followed by two hours of downtime, and then an hour of Discrete Math (should I have even written that?--it's not very discrete anymore) and an hour of Java programming. I am heading to bed.

It was hard leaving my wife and daughter again after having spent a whole month at home, but I get to see them on the weekend, and the sooner Iget school over with, the sooner we can all be together permanently. My wife is currently an OSU student as well, taking online classes. She is taking the final science class she needs in order to earn her AA degree.

Well, as stated previously, I am headed to bed. Have a great night and I will fill you in on my exciting activities later. Ciao.

I'm Back...almost.

2006-01-07T23:53:00.000-08:00

Since coming home for the holidays, I have taken up a new hobby. While vacationing in Sunriver with my in-laws, I learned to play No Limit Texas Hold'em. I now play online, but I only gamble with play money. I lose real money, but win play money, so play is where I'll stay. Hey, that's a rhyme. Wish I could do it every time. Actually, that would get quite boring; then everyone would end up snoring.

Classes start up on Monday, so I am headed back to Corvallis Sunday (technically today) to get settled in. It was great spending a month with my wife and daughter, yet I am anxious to tackle another term and get that much closer to graduating. I'm just not sure how anxious I am to take two math classes. My programming class will be bad enough. Oh well. THat's about it for now.

Final Grades

2005-12-13T21:06:00.000-08:00

This is the craziest receipt I've ever see. Obviously, these comments were never meant to be seen by the customer.

I received my final grades. First, I have only seen A, B, C, D, and F on a college transcript. I have never seen pluses or minuses, until this term. I got my expected A in Engineering. I got a C+ in Biology, and I scraped by with a C- in Vector Calculus. Though, not that great, my term GPA was 2.54. Christmas is quickly approaching. Most of our shopping is complete. I am still awaiting the confirmation that my brother's gift has been sent. I placed the order 3 days ago and have not been able to contact the company regarding whether or not my order was being processed. Most of my shopping was done online, with the exception of stocking stuffers. They are so small and inexpensive that the shipping will kill you. Well, I am watching Christmas movies with my daughter (and playing Dora the Explorer Cand Land, so I'll go for now. Until next time...

This is the craziest Blockbuster I've ever seen. I bet they had no idea their comments would print on the receipt.

2005-12-04T01:44:00.001-08:00

To be honest, calculus is not mixing with anything right now. Vector calculus sucks. I know of no one who would disagree with me on this point. Our final is on Tuesday at noon, and the studying is going slowly. Thankfully, two of my roommates are in my class, so that helps some with studying. Only 2 school days left in this term for me. After that, I head home for a month to be with my family. I know my wife and daughter will be happy.

I've been playing around with a piece of software I downloaded. It's from Microsoft, a company I both admire and hate. Anyway, it's a free download called Photo Story 3. It allows you to create photo slide shows. You can ad text to an image, using the font and color you choose. You can choose the transitions as well as transition times, and how long each slide stays on the screen. You can have movement as well, zooming in, out, left, right, up, down...however you choose. You can also add music (mp3, wav, wma formats). My only complaint here is that some of my mp3's could not be read. You can choose which slide the song plays over. For my latest creation, I have approximately 6 songs. I used Van Halen's "Jump" for the images of my daughter in the bouncing castle. One improvement they could make is allowing you to choose the starting point of the song in case you don't want to start from the beginning, but it's free so you can't complain too much. I was a little concerned about transitions between songs, but the program automatically fades in and out between tracks.

After creating my 11 minute video, I was left with the task of converting it to play on DVD (those grandparents may want to watch it). I had been using VSO's DivxToDVD program for quite some time to convert from avi and wmv to DVD. I was asked if I wanted to search for updates tonight (for the first time ever) and I thought, "What the hell?" APPARENTLY, the version I had been using was beta and was therefore free. However, they no longer support the beta version and when my program checked for an update, it must have realized that I was using a free version because it stopped working. No longer can I joyfully convert my Windows crap to DVD (MPEG) format. Since I was being forced into paying for the legal use of a converter, I elected to leave behind DivxToDVD and its primitive UI and chose to go with WinAVI. It has a great GUI, allows conversion to RM, AVI, and WMV. It also supports converting to DVD (MPEG) format. Life is good once again. Well, it's time for me to leave once again. I will try to not be such a stranger to my own blog. It's just been slightly de-prioritized due to the impending finals.

2005-11-29T02:45:00.000-08:00

Here is a low-res picture of my final project. We had to do a lame lighting design for our future Tekbot, so I decided to do the chaser sequence as seen on KITT in Knight Rider, with two major differences: 1) I only had 6 LEDs rather than 7; 2) It was not feasible to have both a chaser and fader, so I had to stick with just the chaser. It looks fine when viewed in real time, but when captured in still shots, you can see almost any pattern of lights at any given time. In this shot, both ends are brighter than the middle. This is not apparent when seen in action though. I would possibly write more, but I really need some sleep so I can get up for class in the morning.

EULAs, etc.

2005-11-25T23:38:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder who actually reads those 200-word license agreements for software? I know with all the spyware and malware out there, I think about it, but can't bring myself to read all the legal gibberish. PC magazine recently featured Javacool Software's free EULAlyzer. In seconds, it will analyze EULAs and list detailed words and phrases which you should look over prior to installing. It can let you know if the software you are about to install will display pop-ups, transmit personal information, etc. It's free, so you have nothing to lose. It is available at www.javacoolsoftware.com/eulalyzer.html.

Just a note, nothing too interesting to most, but this blog tool I use is part of google. How long until they own a majority of the net? Well, that's all I have for tonight.

Happy Thanksgiving

2005-11-24T22:58:00.001-08:00

For those who prefer fish to turkey, here is a holiday meal just for you. Just don't share it with your Disney-loving children.

Now, I have a serious question for anyone who can answer it. Why do electrical engineers have to learn about the spherical coordinate system? I have never seen such a confusing group of greek letters, and I can honestly ask, "when will I ever use this?"

By the way, I still hate Sony. You should check out their crazy ass-EULA, ass posted on www.eff.org:

If your house gets burgled, you have to delete all your music from your laptop when you get home. That's because the EULA says that your rights to any copies terminate as soon as you no longer possess the original CD.
You can't keep your music on any computers at work. The EULA only gives you the right to put copies on a "personal home computer system owned by you."
If you move out of the country, you have to delete all your music. The EULA specifically forbids "export" outside the country where you reside.
You must install any and all updates, or else lose the music on your computer. The EULA immediately terminates if you fail to install any update. No more holding out on those hobble-ware downgrades masquerading as updates.
Sony-BMG can install and use backdoors in the copy protection software or media player to "enforce their rights" against you, at any time, without notice. And Sony-BMG disclaims any liability if this "self help" crashes your computer, exposes you to security risks, or any other harm.
The EULA says Sony-BMG will never be liable to you for more than $5.00. That's right, no matter what happens, you can't even get back what you paid for the CD.
If you file for bankruptcy, you have to delete all the music on your computer. Seriously.
You have no right to transfer the music on your computer, even along with the original CD.
Forget about using the music as a soundtrack for your latest family photo slideshow, or mash-ups, or sampling. The EULA forbids changing, altering, or make derivative works from the music on your computer.

All the buzz is about First4Internet's XCP, but no Sony is saying nothing about its discs with MediaMax DRM from SunnComm, which installs files on your computer even if you decline the EULA. The following is from www.freedom-to-timker.com:

MediaMax installs without meaningful consent or notification

When a MediaMax-protected CD is inserted into a computer running Windows, the Windows Autorun feature launches a program from the CD called PlayDisc.exe. Like most installers, this program displays a license agreement, which you may accept or decline. But before the agreement appears, MediaMax installs around a dozen files that consume more than 12 MB on the hard disk. Most are copied to the folder c:\Program Files\Common Files\SunnComm Shared\, shown below:

These files remain installed even if you decline the agreement. One of them, a kernel-level driver with the cryptic name “sbcphid”, is both installed and launched. This component is the heart of the copy protection system. When it is running, it attempts to block CD ripping and copying applications from reading the audio tracks on SunnComm-protected discs. MediaMax refrains from making one final change until after you accept the license—it doesn’t set the driver to automatically run again every time Windows starts. Nevertheless, the code keeps running until the computer is restarted and remains on the hard disk indefinitely, even if the agreement is declined.

Sony will likely get away with only a few scrapes because most people are unaware of everything they have been up to. Only the tech community is savvy to their activities, and unfortunately, that means most mainstream media are not making people aware of the problem.

Okay, I've railed against Sony enough for the day. I hope everyone had a great holiday with their friends. family, roommates, or whoever they spent the day with. I get to work in the morning so I will go for now.

Windows Sucks Ass

2005-11-23T22:58:00.000-08:00

Not that I didn't hate Windows already, but here is just another example of why. I have an external hard drive connected via USB. Sometimes when I go to stop the device, I am told to try later. Indexing is disabled and nothing that I can see is accessing the drive. In addition to this, I have notice another item worth mentioning. In previous versions of Windows, you would occasionally receive a message telling you that Windows had performed a fatal exception or some similar message. Now it's just, "an error has occurred." It's not Microsoft's fault. It simply "occurred," nothing actually "performed" this exception, it just happened.

By the way, Sony sucks too. If you haven't heard about all the trouble Sony is in, you sould look at any technical news site, such as slashdot.org or just google "Sony DRM" or "Sony rootkit" and prepare to be apalled. Gotta thank Sony for compromising millions of computers. Last I heard, they had 3 lawsuits against them. I hope they get sued for all they're worth.

Finals are coming up soon. As long as I can get a C on my biology final, I'll be okay in that class. Engineering is no problem. I have an A with no test to take. Vector Calculus is a different story though. The final determines my grade in the class. I failed both midterms. The first had a lot to do with my struggle with my CS class before I finally dropped it so I could focus on my other classes. The second midterm I failed because I didn't have enough time to finish. For our final, we have twice the time, so hopefully the final isn't twice as long. Our instructor drops our lowest test grade, so the final is my chance to redeem myself. However, I will likely need a B on the final in order to get a C in the course, which I need. Well, that's it for now.

Burning the 5AM Oil

2005-11-15T23:54:00.000-08:00

Last night was supposed to be a long night of sleeping, especially since I got very little sleep Sunday night. However, my roommates and I decided to go to the rec center to play basketball and racquetball. It was fun, but I definitely need to exercise more because I was feeling every bit of my almost 29 years. Anyway, we left around midnight and went back to the apartment. We started playing poker. The longer we played, the more we talked, until we were only talking and no longer playing. We talked about life in our respective countries, religion, politics, and eventually were just telling jokes. Actually, they were telling jokes since I have a superhuman gift for forgetting every joke I've ever heard. When we looked at the clock, it was 5am...are you seeing a pattern here? It seems that when we hang out, we don't sleep. Two of us had class at 9am, so there was no way we were going to be able to sleep and get up in time, so we stayed awake. However, we kept dozing off in our class. I had no other classes for the day, so I ate something and went to sleep around 11am and slept until 5pm. Then I got up and ate dinner and worked on homework. I am getting my second wind...which I need to extinguish soon because I have lab at 8am. I have very little to say tonight because I am tired, and because I slept half the day and thus have fewer experiences and houghts to share. Have a great day and I'll be back tomorrow.

Burning DVDs and Undercooking Dinner

2005-11-14T18:59:00.000-08:00

Do you ever wonder who writes the instructions on microwavable dinners? They never seem to be quite right, no matter what microwave I use. Either you overcook your food or it is undercooked. I had a Hungry Man dinner tonight. I cooked it according to the directions and steam was rising from my chicken and cheddar potatoes. I poured some ketchup in the tray and began eating. The chicken wasn't even close to being warm, unless you live in the arctic, but then, you probably wouldn't be eating chicken, would you? All microwave are different. I suppose it would be like writing directions on how to burn DVDs using Linux, even though people have all different operating systems. The directions will be accurate for some, and not for others. Why not say, "remove the chicken from the tray and nuke the potatoes until they feel hot. Throw the chicken back in and nuke until they burn the skin off your fingers?" At least those directions would be more helpful. Also, how can they write that a serving size is half the package? Who eats half a TV dinner and saves the rest for another night? It's a little deceitful when you see "900-some" calories and it's for half your dinner.

I have some questions about laughter. First, why do we find it funny when people sound like a chipmunk? Second, has anyone actually heard a chipmunk talk like a chipmunk? Finally, why is laughter so infectious? You don't even have to know how the laughter originated. Hearing someone else laughing uncontrollably will eventually rub off on you. For instance, I saw a video clip from a talk show recently. It wasn't even in English, but I was able to discern that it was a serious topic. This man and women were very sad and talking about some traumatic experience such as the less of a child. The interviewer, or host, began laughing and could not control himself. I had no idea what was going on, but after a minute or so, I found myself engulfed in laughter. The only thing that ended my gut-rolling was the ending of the video clip.

Well, I suppose that's all the wisdom I have to dispense and all the questions I have for now.

A Day of Disappointments

2005-11-13T21:57:00.000-08:00

Today, I was saddened to discover that Eddie Guerrero, famed WWE wrestler, has died. For the past four years, he has led a sober and clean life. He was apparently found dead in his bathroom with his toothbrush in his mouth...likely from heart failure. My heart goes out to his friends, wife, and three daughters.

In comparison, this seems so trivial, but my tiny26 electronics chip was killed tonight. I was in my living room, hooking LEDs to the PCB, watching them blink randomly. Apparently this was quite fascinating to my daughter as well. I should say right here that my daughter is amazingly well-behaved. She only acts up when she is extremely tired and cranky. She has never been one to mess with other people's things. In fact, she has never been one to put things in her mouth, even as a baby. Anyway, taking this into consideration, I have never had to worry about leaving her alone with my things. Tonight, I went into the other room for a few minutes, and when I came back, all of my components and board were on the carpet. When I tried to connect my LEDs, nothing happened. I can no longer get my board to work. I came up with a lighting display for my board tonight. If anyone is old enough to remember the show Knight Rider, you will recall KITT's red scanner lighting kit. That is the lighting effect I have decided to emulate. The programming for this is supposed to be done tomorrow, but that's going to be difficult with my chip fried. Oh well. Life goes on.

Additionally, my team, the Oakland Raiders, got their asses handed to them today. Actually, Collins got his ass handed to him. The defense did awesome, and Collins single-handedly negated all of their hard work.

I think that's all I have to complain about. Well, I have to drive to Corvallis is the morning so I will go for now. My next posting will be a little more upbeat than this.

Miscellaneous Ramblings

2005-11-12T22:47:00.000-08:00

Did anyone see the Oregon State-Stanford game tonight? Did Stanford bring their own ref with them. Most of the calls I agree with, but for a while there, the calls were very questionable at the least. Oregon State is penalized for roughing the kicker and roughing the passer, with no injuries inflicted. However, when Stanford does the same thing to Oregon State, and actually injures the QB enough to bench him for the rest of the game (and possibly season), there is no penalty called. What's up with that. Next week is the Civil War game between Oregon and Oregon State. The Beavers need the win.

Another gripe: "studies" that suggest violent behavior is linked to rap/rock music and violent video games. In case people haven't heard, the government just released a study and juvenile crime is down about 30%. So, if crime is down, how do you explain the "fact" that video games are making menaces of the youth? Perhaps crime is down because people have an outlet for their anger and frustration. I know I feel better after toasting some Nazi's in Medal of Honor. At any rate, video games do not equal crime.

For all you math geeks, or anyone who has taken integral calculus, write the expression: the integral of e to the x is equal to f of the quantity u to the n. Now take a look at what it spells. I know, it's a bit immature, but it's still funny.

If you haven't seen The Backyardigans on Nick Jr. You should check it out, especially if you have children, are a child, or have child-like tendencies. The characters are CGI animals: Pablo, Tyrone, Austin, Uniqua, and Tasha. They have a great time make-believing they are pirates, ghosts, yeti-hunters, cowboys, etc. They sing fun, catchy songs that coordinate with the show.

Why must religion be such a divisive thing? Hell, it seems that religion is more divisive than politics. I think everyone needs to learn a little tolerance. I grew up in a Christian church and my interest declined sometime after high school. I still like non-denominational Christianity. It is a very romantic experience. Perhaps many religions are like this and I romanticize it above others because I know it best. Just because I like it does not mean I believe in it though. Most religions, despite their differences, subscribe to the same basic tenets. Judaism, Islam, and Christianity have similar histories, and all have incorporated the worship practices and cultures of those around them. People can deny this all they want, but the truth is there. I will use a few Christian concepts as an example.

Christians originally worshipped on Saturday. When Rome was Christianized by Constantine, who was not a believer at that time BTW, the worship of the sun was dominant. That is where Sunday is derived from. The worship of the sun was done on his day. His symbol was the cross of light. In order to push another religion onto pagans, it is best to incorporate their own customs into the new religion. So these new Christianized pagans began worshipping on Sunday. They continued to use the cross as a religious icon, but now it was supposed to be a symbol of Jesus the Christ death on a cross. Additionally, Easter was originally a celebration of the rebirth of nature in the spring. In order to keep people happy, the Christian (Catholic) church kept the holiday, but it was now to be a celebration of the Christ's return from the dead (rather than nature's). Additionally, Jesus' birth had been celebrated in January (and still is by the orthodox church). However, these pagans had a huge celebration December 25th, the celebration of the winter solstice...when the days grew longer (read: the sun god began his return to dominance). In order to Christianize the solstice, Christ's birthday was moved back a couple weeks.

Don't get me wrong, I think religion is great. It gives many people the strength they need to carry on in this life. For others, it gives them the power to regain control of their lives. Because it has led to good for many people, I cannot be against it. Besides that, there is no way to know whether there is truth in religion or not. If you haven't figured out yet, I am agnostic.

If you have been led to believe that the Bible is the infallible word of God, then you should check out the Skeptic's Annotated Bible. Additionally, the have links for the Quran and the Book of Mormon. Don't be afraid to question things. It will either point out fallicies in your beliefs, or it will reaffirm your beliefs. I wouldn't dream of telling you what to believe. I just want to make sure you have all the information to make an educated decision.

Well, I think that's enough for one night. My daughter is still awake and will likely not sleep until I am away from this screen. Talk to you later.

A Rocky Start

2005-11-11T23:44:00.000-08:00

Where do you suppose that phrase began? "He got off to a rocky start..." Honestly, the first thing that pops into my mind is Rocky Balboa. Granted, the phrase most certainly did not originate here, but even in this context it makes sense. In all Rocky movies, he has great obstacles to overcome. The beginning is always rocky for him. At any rate, this blog will have a rocky beginning also, but hopefully it will go on to become rocky in the Rocky Balboa sense as well.

I must apologize if I have lost you already. I could blame it on my lack of sleep. After all, my roommates and I were up until 5:30 this morning studying for our second Vector Calculus midterm. However, I'm sure you will find that, more often than not, my postings will be in a style similar to this. That's not to say I don't have moments of great clarity and brilliance, because I do. But those times are generally wrapped up in moments such as this.

I suppose I should give you a little background information since this is my first posting, which means that you likely know nothing about me. I am 28 years old and will turn 29 on December 4th. I am currently a student at Oregon State University. Yes, I am a Beaver. Make your jokes and laugh. When you are done gut-rolling, you can finish learning about who I am.

I grew up in Lewiston, Idaho. I lived there from birth (well, technically, I was born in Pasco, Washington) until I was two years old. My parents got divorced at that point in time and my sister and I lived with our mother until I was (I believe) 4 years old. During that time, a lot happened in my life--most of it traumatic--which I may detail in the future. I lived in Lewiston until August 2000, when I moved to Boise with my girlfriend. We had been dating since January 1998 and she had been hired at Micron Technology. We got married October 20, 2001 (a mere month after the World Trade Center was destroyed). On April 17, 2002, our daughter, Hailey, was born. Now, I hate to get side-tracked...actually, I live for getting side-tracked...but this is great time to say something. I love commas. Okay, I don't love them in an "I want to marry them" sort of way (I'm no polygamist), but I have an affinity for them. Just look over this post, count the number of commas I have used, and ask yourself, "Is this normal?"

Okay, back to my narration: Around that time, my in-laws had bought a business on the southern Oregon coast and were looking for some help running it. They also wanted to get us out of Idaho and away from Wal-mart (our current employer at that time). By the way, I have nothing but the best of feelings about Wal-mart, but that is a whole blog topic on its own. They wanted to help us expand our horizons and add to our life experience. When Hailey was 2 weeks old, we made the move.

Now, my wife and daughter still live in southern Oregon, and my wife still manages the business for her parents. I manage it on Saturdays still, and will also work there over holidays and summer. As you can see from my blog title, I am a future engineer. I am taking classes at OSU to get my BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering. I took care of all my general courses at a community college, so I am left with nothing but math, science, and engineering/computer science courses.

This term, I am taking ECE 111, which is an intro to engineering course. It is totally lame. The college is in the process of transforming their College of Engineering, so some classes are being redesigned. ECE 111 is a brand new course, and all we have done for the past 6 weeks is learned what an engineer is, how much money they make, and what they do. Nothing else. Our recitations have included a campus tour, listening to people talk about what they are doing in engineering, as well as an online scavenger hunt for information (basically a test of how fast you can google). Then, last week we are given a PCB (printed circuit board), a chip, and some other components. We are given a layout and need to solder the components onto the PCB. That's easy enough. The we have to hook LEDS up to it and program the chip with a C compiler. Okay...LEDs...not a problem. Programming the chip...problem. We haven't done any programming yet, and with no intro, no basics, they tell us to program this damn chip...right. Then, this week, they tell us we are having a two-week lab. We need to creat a signature lighting display for our Tekbots, which we will obtain and design in future terms. We are told that this assignment includes programming, layout, and design. WTF? There is no knowledge base for us to work from. The class does nothing to prepare us for our recitation (lab), and previous labs were very basic, and now they want us to do things we know nothing about. Everyone I have talked to feels the same way.

I am also taking Vector Calculus (MTH 254). Two of my roommates are in this class with me, hence the long study session last night (Thursday night). My other class is Introductory Biology (Bi 211). It's okay. We spent 6 weeks learning about the plant kingdom, and now we are learning about animals. When we switched over to the animal kingdom, we switched instructors as well. This one told us to forget everything we had learned about plants...we no longer needed this information. He said plants are only good for 3 things: nests for birds, breathing, and salads.

Well, it is late, I am tired, my hand is cramping from being at my laptop for too long, and I have to work in the morning so I will wrap up this post. Hopefully you have some interest in reading more of what I have to say. If you want, feel free to leave comments or email me.