Currently Listening to: the people in chem lab talking about chemistry...things
Current Weight: 152?

This is shaping up to be a damn good week.

Currently Listening to: nothing
Current Weight: 156

I just started a torrent a few minutes ago when I noticed this.

I blogged about it when I reached 1 TB, so why not blog about it now. I am actually quite proud of reaching 2 terabytes uploaded. Back when I had 56k and cable I would leach files all the time without a care in the world. Now I feel I am repaying my debt to pirates everywhere.

I also want to share another picture, this one is courtesy of Will.



...Speaking of pie, I saw this a few minutes ago.



Ok. Now that show and tell is over, Ill guess I'll talk about something...Let's see. Ah, school seems like a good place to start. It's sodomizing me. Between work and classes interleaving throughout the week, I only have the weekend to study for tests and do projects, and with the end of the semester coming, I am feeling it pretty hard. ...That's what she said.

DSP and Senior design are the two main areas of trouble. I got a 50 on my first DSP test, and I am pretty sure I'll get worse than that on the test I took this past week. At least it's a graduate class, so I think their grading scheme is different. Basically, if you show up and put in a good faith effort, the unwritten rule is that you get a C- at worst. That works for me, as unlike grad students, I don't need a B to pass the course. Senior design is just nightmarishly work intensive. Of course I had to choose the one senior design project I had the least experience in and with the least sponsor supervision. Now I find myself having to learn how to code microprocessors in C. Learning a completely different way of writing code, in a new language is not easy, especially when the only time you can work on it is during a much needed break from school and work. Basically, I've let it slide until now. I probably won't get anything done, our project won't be ready, and it will be terrible. Hopefully, Chris only punishes me and not the whole team, though. They've been doing great work while trying to drag me along.

It seems like I'm only losing like 1-2 pounds a month now. I should probably change my workouts a little, or do a little more research on what exercises I should be doing...as opposed to just doing random shit I think will make me lose weight. The running I do in the morning can stay, as cardio is a great way to lose weight. My diet could change though. Basically I am just watching calories and im probably at 1200-1600 a day. Of course, I eat the same thing most nights, and that includes chicken and a lot of sandwiches. I think that means a lot of carbs, but I don't really know. I've completely forgotten what my weight loss goal was, but I think now its just to lose enough weignt so I can actually spend a summer swimming or something.

Oh right, that reminds me of something else. I probably wont have a free summer since UTD decided to not offer Wireless Communications...thus stalling my graduation. I've been trying to get a professor to do an independent study with me, but no one wants the workload. So basically I'm fucked...possibly until the summer although we don't know if we can get the class to make yet. Worst case scenario, Ill be at UTD for another semester...taking one class...still working part time as an intern...paying full tuition since my financial aid runs out in spring 09.

I need to get out of school...I need to get a job....and I NEED to get out there and get myself a girlfriend. Oh wait, maybe I just need Left 4 Dead to come out so I can fuck this semester up even more.

And no, I'm not being emo... I'm just angry. Now that my black man is in office, or will be, I don't have an excuse to be emo anymore. Peace up, a-town.

Currently Listening to: KMFDM - Real Thing
Current Weight: not sure, but 159 a few days ago

I finally decided to buy a 22 inch monitor today. No, it isn't the Samsung I've been drooling over for the past...wow, for almost the past year. However, it's a company I trust and it'll end up being around $10-$20 more than what I paid for my current 19 inch.

Also, read this article. It's like shes reading my mind, or what's left of it anyway.

Currently Listening to: Audioslave - Exploder
Current Weight: 166

Alright well, that's enough emo for the month. I am happy to report that my Operating Systems class and senior design class went well last night. The OS class is with a professor I've had before, and the layout is pretty similar to Algorithms and Data Structures. That means it'll probably be easy.

For senior design, I decided to join the AUV group. That means over the next 8 months I will help build an autonomous underwater vehicle. There are two groups, sonar and visual tracking, that I can choose from within the project. I am still waiting on the information session tomorrow before I decided. Next summer we get to go to San Diego and test it out against 20 something other schools from around the world in a 6 million gallon pool on a naval base. I'm really excited about building it because we all get primers on making the microcontrollers and applying assembly code to our homemade integrated circuits to make them do things. That's pretty fucking amazing if you ask me.

Also, my comm systems and DSP classes were canceled today, so I got off school like...7 hours early. I used that extra time to go ahead and hit them gym. Had a 2.5 hour workout which hurt like hell. Now I am home waiting for Will to finish Dr. Horrible so we can play something. Of course, after I post this I will probably start watching it too. It's a vicious, but awesome, cycle.

"You give my regards to Saint Peter... or whoever has his job, but in hell."

Currently Listening to: Jakalope - Don't Cry
Current Weight: 167

It's the real week of school and I just can't seem to get excited about. On the contrary, I am scared beyond belief. I will be taking 16 hours this semester, 3 of those being a graduate electrical engineering course, and 10 of those hours are based off of Signals and Systems. Granted, I got an A- in Signals this summer, it was a hard A to get.

I wasn't doing so hot in the beginning of the summer semester, and the only way I was able to turn the class around was because it was my only class and I was able to study at work. I had so much time to understand the material. Now, I have 16 hours of class and I am working part time 20 hours a week. I can't quit my job because I need to pay for gas and insurance and stuff. I cant quit school...obviously. I can't reduce the work load because I am finally on track to graduate on time, and removing one class would add an entire semester to graduation; a semester that I have no means of paying for now that my scholarship is almost dried up.

Then there are a slew of personal problems that I just don't want to deal with. And there are family problems that I cannot afford to dwell on. So much is going on and I feel like I don't have an means of letting it out. I thought blogging about it would help, but I still have that nervous, uneasy feeling I had before I started. I need to pull myself together for my mom and dad, because I know they don't need something else to worry about, especially now. Sadly, I fear pulling myself together will degenerate into me retreating into a mental cave for 2 weeks, only leaving for school and work related things. I thought I had outgrown that, but it's looking real nice to me right now.

God, that turned real emo real fast...

Also, I haven't been losing weight. I've lost a grand total of 2 lbs in the last month. It looks like I need to reevaluate my diet and exercise plans, which just means I'll need to spend more money on food and more time in the morning. I found a cool site with free diet recommendations and a book called "Burn the fat, feed the muscle," so Ill check that out when I get home tonight. I hope this doesn't discourage me too much. I've kept it up so well for the last 10 months and it would suck if I stopped now.

Anyway, I should probably get back to work...

Currently Listening to: Coldplay - Violet Hill
Current Weight: 169 this morning








Behold, the schedule of doom! I say this because I am taking a graduate course (Digital Signal Processing 1) on top of Telecomm Networks and Comm. Systems (comm systems is basically an extension of Signals and systems, which I am currently not doing very well in). The bright side to all of this is, provided I can get passed this semester, I may actually graduate in the spring. It will require me to take chemistry at some DCCCD campus in Irving over winter break, but at least I will have the summer free to possibly go to Japan/Germany.

Anyway, I am sitting here at work trying to get this damn test to run correctly. I keep getting distracted by the internet and all its glory, however. Digg is amusing as usual. Facebook is my go to site, though. I actually chatted with an old WoW friend today. He told me that after I quit, he tried to quit and did for about 2-3 months. I was surprised because I thought he had actually quit for good. Still, from what I can gather about his life, he is balancing WoW and the rest of life pretty well. I kinda want to get into again, but only casually. Now I know what you are thinking..."Aka, that is a fucking retarded idea. Now shut the hell up." Yeah yeah, I know. However, when I used to play WoW, and I quit, I decided to get back in as a hardcore player, not casually. I think that having my own server and messing around there really put the game into perspective. Now, I just want an RPG to play where I can interact with other people, not a way to spend my entire day in another reality. Holly, the sister of an old friend of mine, Jack, brought up WoW in a LJ post and it made me realize that I really want to play it again. So, if any of you are interested, and I doubt you are, let me know.

While on the topic of games, I've been playing a lot of RPG's lately. I just finished KotOR a few days ago, Mass Effect last night, and I am 3 planets into KotOR II. Both Mass Effect and KotOR were AMAZING games. I played through KotOR like 4-5 times back in the day, but I'd forgotten how good it was. Mass Effect was entertaining as well. It looks amazing and the story, while somewhat lacking in the origins of the Citadel races, had me hooked. I definitely wouldn't mind playing it again, after I finish a slew of other games like KotOR II, Vampire, and maybe Oblivion. However, KotOR II more of a disappointment than I remember. The game mechanics are almost indistinguishable from the first, save a few small adjustments and the occasional improvement. The new force powers, feats, and prestige classes were a very good addition to the game. I branched my game into three paths, and am trying out a Soldier/Jedi Master build, although I fully expect it to fail. My wisdom may not be high enough to pull it off, so if it ends badly, I will just play a soldier/jedi weapons master and pewpewpew with my lightsabers. Anyway, I'll wait for Phil's game review page to come out and go into more detail about these games there.

Hmm, what else... Dr. Horrible is amazing. I am embarrassed that I have only seen it like 6-7 times total. Joss Whedon is amazing at what he does. I am 9 episodes into Firefly, but I don't want to finish it because I don't want it to end =(. The Vampire campaign was a lot more fun that I thought it would be. Obviously I will need to work on my role playing, as I fear James Duval might be a better actor than I am. Seriously, what are you doing...do you want to get sick again? Also, while I think I know my character pretty well, I still need to work on what HE would actually do/say. It was pretty much my fault that we got into a combat situation that led to one of our vampires frenzying out of control. This is bad because of the circumstances that will eventually led to him dying when the sun rises. Hopefully the story will get fixed by the next session. I would say that DnD is going well, but we haven't had a session in two weeks. The first week was used to discuss how we could make the campaign better and was a good use of time. The second week was pretty much used for revamping characters...which people should have done beforehand. I got my shit done, and I even sent Ross my character background, and I go to work and school! Come on people =). It should be awesome when we get started up again. Plundering booty and fishing with a bow and arrow is truly how a pirate is supposed to live. My shark animal companion is better than your generic pet.

I am going to start doing this, today. I tried the initial test and got to 35, so that's a good sign. I figure I can do this on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and go to the gym on Tuesday and Thursday. I'll have to change it up on the first week of school, though, but I should be done after that first week. My arms will be tired as hell, but it's a good way to tone them...and its free. Thanks for mentioning this, Will.

So yeah, I should have been doing work this entire time...as I am currently at work. I use the word "however" a lot. Hmm...I should work on that. The More You Know!

Currently Listening to: Coldplay - Yellow
Current Weight: 180

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention something. I started dieting and exercising in October of 2007. Back then I topped out at around 240 pounds. Since then I've lost about 70 pounds, but Ive gained a little more from working out and PUMPING MASSIVE IRON at the gym. In an effort to get back into blogging, I guess Ill keep track of my weight here.

Anyway, I don't have another picture to leave you with. Just search for LOLcats or SMBC in Google and you'll find something funny. Peace.

Currently Listening to: Coldplay - See You Soon

Hey look at that, I am actually blogging. So lets see, whats new? Well, I bought a new car. It's a 2002 Mitsubishi Galant and its great. I'm taking 12 hours over the summer and working part time at STMicroelectronics as an Engineering Intern.

Currently, I need to do about 3 weeks of work for my online history 1301 class, a weeks worth for Philosophy, and my take home final for Hitler and National Socialism. That was an amazing class by the way. If you see Dr. Has-Ellison teaching it in the future you should sign up for it.

I need to get back to work. I have like 4-5 papers to write this weekend and we have our stripper blue pirate D&D campaign in 5 hours. Ill just leave you with this picture. Yeah, I am that awesome.