Checksum Arcanius

Well, I managed to finish up the recommendation report I get to turn in today at 3:30. Only part that is missing is the professional print-and-bind job at Kinko’s which will occur within the next couple of hours I think.

On the other hand, I have an in-class wiritng assignment today, many hours of Math and Thermodynamics homework due tomorrow and a Math midterm on Wednesday that I am about as unprepared for as is possible (I’ve missed probably half the lectures and almost all of the homework since the last midterm).

Not good Ryan, not good.

While I am doubtful that my current computer science class is teaching me how to use Java for meaningful projects (as if that is possible), it is giving me some interesting programs to write that produce fun output. Last week’s random sentence generator was quite funny, and this week’s Anagram discover has found some interesting re-writings of my name:

• Royal men cry
• Many cry “lore” (What some say about religion)
• Mare only cry (The sad female horse)

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On Tuesday, Novermber 8th, I get to register for my next semester of classes. I have to choose among 26 credits that I’m interested in and make sense; I’m having enough trouble with 16 credits right now (just got a 86% in my CSE 143 test… ug!), so I’ll want to pair that down to 19 at the most. Hopefully Creighton, who got hired at Microvision the other day, will be enough up to speed bythen that I can reduce my hours even further. I think that I may start looking into a place west of the bridge once again, since this commute sucks up a lot of time that could be used doing… well, something useful perhaps. Its just so much money, but I’ve got to get over that I think!

Anyway, the classes I’m considering, and their credit values:
Bioengineering 201 (2) — Introduction to Bioengineering
Biology 220 (5) — Introduction to Biology III
Chemistry 238 (4) — Organic Chemistry II
Chemistry 241 (3) — Organic Chemistry Lab
Computer Science & Engineering 341 (4) — Programming Languages
Electrical Engineering 233 (5) — Circuit Theory
Math 394 (3) — Probability I

It all really hinges on whether Bioengineering works out or not, or if I even decide that’s what I’m going to do… eveyrone in the program that I’ve talked to so far has kind of warned me off, telling me that the program in immature, unaccredited, requires postgraduate work to be hireable, etc, etc… so computer engineering may be where its at. I’ll still apply to Bioengineering at any rate, to keep my options open, but I’m considering poaching towards computer engineering until I have figured out if I’m even going to get in to the Bioengineering department… this is of course assuming that I will get into Computer Engineering.. if I don’t do that, well, then… I dunno.

In a grading miracle, my math teacher finished evaluating all of the tests less than twelve hours after we started taking the test. A quick response to my grade inquiry revealed that I scored 32 out of 40. Not stellar, by any means — in fact, it is about the worst I could have done and not felt terrible. On the other hand, I’ve decided that this will allow me to play at least one game of DoD:S before getting bak to work.

After sleeping in a little too much recently, I decided I needed to rectify my alarm clock situation. Too often , was sleeping right through my alarm clock. When I had the same problem back at BYU, I set up my computer (along with the relatively nice speakers currently loaned to Bobby) so that it would play Chumbawamba’s Amnesia (“Do you suffer from long-term memory loss? I don’t remember“) at a fairly good volume. It always worked, and my roommate was good to put up with the brief morning noise for such a good cause as getting me up.

I hadn’t really considered this approach for a while because my current desktop is a little louder than oasis was, and I really didn’t want to be leaving it on all night (its also a very warm and bright machine, which combined with its noise might interfere with some sleep). However, I finally decided that waking up was too important, so I went about setting it up on Monday morning. While doing so, I came across a very cool feature in the Windows task scheduler: a check box that reads, “Wake up computer to perform this task.” Well, this was news. Apparently, I could put the computer into standby mode, where it is quiet, dark, and cool. Then it will wake up and play music at me in a loud manner at the appropriate time. After a quick test found the system to be working, I set it up. The system has been working progressively better. A couple of days ago, I tweaked the system for separate MWF and TTh wakeup times. Waking up early has made it easier to do so, so the effect is self-reinforcing. I even made it to CSE 143 section on time yesterday, something I hadn’t done since the second day of class.

Furthermore, I’m getting more sensitive. Today, I awoke not to blaring music, but to the click my desktop made as it revived itself from sleep. I was able to act quickly enough to turn the volume down to a good listening level before the startup completed and the music started. It was actually a quite pleasant way to wake up.

I have done it before and I am doing it again. As math goes not well, I will not play any Steam game until I do well on a math test, be that the one on Wednesday or some future test.