General update

A lot has happened since the last post, hopefully I'll be posting on here more in the future. Major happenings:

• I graduated college and got a job
   
• My senior design project won the The Outstanding ECE Senior Design Project Award. (Somewhat related to the previous post)
   
• I did a major portion of the electronics design and construction for the Rocketry Club at GMU Battle of the Rockets entries in 2018 and 2019 (sounding rocket and mars rover) Turned out pretty well. http://www.rocketbattle.org/winners.html
   
• I did an engine swap and a lot of upgrades to my truck, got much better at automotive work, and learned quite a bit in the process.

 I'll probably be posting quite a bit about the truck modifications as I've spent the past month working on it, and it's pretty neat.
All for now, hopefully more soon.

College

Aaahh! It's April already! Time is moving so fast it's scary. College is really hard.

Why must the nicest weather of the year coincide with exam study time?

I wrote this up a while ago, and am just now posting it in between studying for exams. I've been doing nothing but math for the past 6 hours, and I need a brain break or I think my brain will break.

I realized the other day that I haven't really posted any pictures from college, so I'll make an attempt to rectify that from now on. First though, new computer setup!

Never seen that error before...

It's working pretty nicely. The main reason I'm running Windows is that the free version of Davinci Resolve (Davinci Resolve lite) only runs on Windows. From what I can tell, the paid version runs on Linux, but I don't have $1000 to spare, and since I'm a student, I get Windows for free, so...

I'm really excited for DaVinci Resolve 12, I'll probably move to that as my primary video editor. (except on Linux...) Resolve can even do real-time optical flow interpolation, which is the coolest thing I've seen in a while.

New system specs: (Subject to change fairly often)

CPU: 2.5 GHz Xeon x8

RAM: 20 GB ECC DDR2

GPU: Nvidia GTX 590

1 TB 7200 RPM SATA drive (Windows 7)

256 GB SATA SSD (Linux Mint)

So now I've got a good setup for CG and video editing, if only I had time to use it... I'm hoping to put it to use for the CRU VMA's next year. There are some nice computers in the video editing department at GMU, (i7 3770 with 16GB RAM), but they're rather lacking in terms of the GPU. (At least the ones I've tried, the mac pro computers may be better)

Anyway, photos!

Spring is beautiful.

 

 

 These are all raw, completely unedited, and some of them were taken with my phone. I did see enough good photo opportunities I've started bringing my camera. The Canon PowerShot G series is a really great all-around camera. It's small enough to bring easily, and still gives me all the control I need, and good photos. The new ones have HD video too. I'm very happy with my G10. I've put it through a lot, and it still delivers. I need to clean the lens though, as you can see in the photos above.

That's all for now.

Blog update

Well, college has started back up, and I'm busier than ever. (literally!)
I'm trying to keep something of a balance between social life and hobbies and studies and work.

Some of my friends may be interested to know that I'm taking a communications class. It's pretty easy so far, (unlike my other classes!) we'll see how it goes. It's also more fun so far.
I'm really busy this semester (so why am I posting on here?) I know, but at a certain point my brain tells me it's had enough math for a while, and if I want to stay sane I should do something else for a few minutes. So I'll take an opportunity to breath a little life back into my severely neglected blog.

Anyway, the blog broke 5000 views, yay!

Per request, stats, all time:

Clearly, looking at the pageview popularity, and then at what I'm posting, I'm not chasing pageviews enough ;) Anyway, I think it's interesting, and this is mostly just something I can look back at.

What's slightly interesting is that the Project Redwall blog has only been up for about a year, (wow, it's been a year already!?) and it has more views than this blog. It is updated a bit more regularly though, so that helps, and if you're interested in CG there's some useful / interesting stuff there.
We're getting some large-scale mock-ups that are starting to look pretty decent. Grass is a problem right now, but other parts are coming along, if slowly, and we have new ideas to test for grass too.

Quick speaker update: both sides are on, with handles, now the main thing to do is get the tweeter module built. I have some photos, but they're not accessible right now. I may insert those here later.
It sounds pretty good at this stage of construction. I've been running it with one tweeter while I've been working on it, and with a sub and EQ it's doing pretty well. Looking forward to getting it finished and giving it a workout outdoors. Now I just need to find people to pay me to use them...

In other news, I'm running the sound for CRU this semester! By the end of the semester I should have enough practice to be pretty decent. I'm also going to be overhauling my church's audio system soon, so that will be fun. Those are both volunteer positions / jobs though. I wish I had some photos from CRU to post here. I have some from an event last semester, but CRU already posted those. I'll have to see if I can start taking some at the general meetings.

That's all for who knows how long.

My Backpack (contents)

So, after my first college semester, I thought maybe I should clean my backpack out, and while I'm at it, why not take a picture?

Just for fun, (I mean, now I actually have time to do this sort of thing...kind of..)
Here's a list

(Click for larger)

1. Graphing calculator (Ti Nspire non-CAS)
2. secret invention prototype demo in case
3. Ethernet cable
4. Velcro ties
5. Fishing line
6. VGA cable
7. 1/8" to RCA cable
8. Swimsuit
9. Goggles
10. Spare scantrons
11. Laptop
12. USB power plug
13. Broken combination lock (used on a project as a weight)
14.  Dual screwdriver
15. Outlet strip
16. Econ textbook
17. Headphones (Sennheiser HD280 Pro)
18. Cable tester
19. HD video camera
20. Non-graphing calculator
21. Whiteboard pen
22. Spare laptop battery
23. Automatic wire strippers
24. SPL meter
25. Scissiors
26. Slide rule (yes, I have used it in class on a test :)
27. Flashlight
28. Radio
29. Traffic cone (goes on flashlight for directing traffic)
30. spare AA batteries
31. Dynamic mic
32. Pencils
33. Compass case
34. Compass
35. Spare cell phone battery
36. Computer mouse
37. Alligator clips
38. Bible
39. Notebooks (you can't tell, but there are 4, and one has three sections)
40. Granola bars
41. An inch worth of old tests, notes, etc.
42. US Constitution, Declaration of Independance, and the Articles of Confederation
43. Antenna
44. SDR (Software Defined Radio)
45. USB power plug
46. USB current meter
47. 16GB USB 3.0 flash drive
48. Sharpie
49. Deodorant
50. Laptop charger
51. Another spare cell phone battery
52. Clear demo lock
53. Rugged, waterproof 64GB USB 3.0 USB drive
54. Pen I got at orientation that I use for all my notes
55. Earplugs
56. Charging cables and headphone splitter adapter
57. Calculus textbook

I usually also keep a rechargeable bluetooth speaker in my backpack, but on an average day this is about what I would have.
On the list, items 33 and 34 should probably be combined, as should 35 and 51.
And the little dot above the compass I forgot to label is a 1/4" to 1/8" stereo adapter

Overkill? Yeah, maybe, but it's nice if I need something, I usually just have it right there...4 layers down ;)
Oh, what does it weigh? Not sure exactly, but around 30lbs, so maybe half what a standard military pack would weigh. I must say though, when I take it off, I go a little quicker, especially up stairs ;)

Happy Holidays everyone!

Right now

This is about my life right now...

Except the balloons I'm (trying to) hang onto are college and CRU

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sorry I haven't posted anything in so long. I've just been too busy with college.
Hopefully I'll be able to post here more soon.
Anyway, happy Thanksgiving everyone!