Ryan’s Blog

Tattoo number 2. I got this one for my grandma. She passed away recently, and this is from one of her charms that she had. This is located on my left breast, slightly above the heart. I will post another picture once it heals up a little. Done: June 2, 2009.

This one was also done at Aenigma Ink in Kitchener, Ontario

Someone I know posted this message on facebook recently, and it kinda bugs me, and really lessens my faith in certain people.

I get really pissed off when I hear someone say life sucks or they are all depressed. There are soo many things in life which are just so amazing, how can anything be so bad.

Science and biology never stopped amazing me and always makes me wonder how life works. An example of the amazingness of life is a parisite called Leucochloridium paradoxum. It infects a snail and replaces its eye tenticle. At this point the snails life probably sucks as this parisite is doing its best to flag down a bird to eat it. Once a bird eats the snail the parisite continues its lifecycle in the bird. The parisite matures and the bird excreets the parisites eggs in its droppings, which infects another snail.

As a human I step back and wonder… how did this parisite come to be? did it think… hey if I made this snails eye flash, would it get eaten sooner by a bird which could be a host to my eggs?? What was that parisite before??? like WTF. Some would call it a devine creation by a god and give up wondering… give up on all the wonders of the world… but even then I would wonder what created god…

What makes a bee do what bees do?

What is at the bottom of the deepest part of the ocean?

What is the point of a virus? How do they form? do they learn? What makes them mutate?

How do we have thought??

To all of you people all depressed and emo… fuck off and open your eyes. Life is amazing.

Now… most of this I agree with, about the whole thing about life being so interesting and such. But they also leave out the fact that depression is one of those things that he claims to find so interesting and tells them to fuck off, like they have the choice of being depressed, like the snail or the bird has the choice of being infected by this parasite.

This really gets to me, because a lot of people think that depression is some sort of joke, that everyone that is depressed is just trying to get some attention.  Here is some news for you, all they want is some help, to try to understand and maybe even get passed this depression.  Given, there are people who cut themselves and other self mutalation for attention, but not everyone who does this does it for attention. For some, it gives them a feeling of euphoria, which in depression is nice break from things.  Depression is not a simple matter, people DON’T want to be depressed, but it happens.  There are many reasons for it happening, massive psychological trauma, physical trauma, or some chemical imbalance that they have no control over.  It is not an easy thing to go through, and a lot of times you can’t get out of it on your own, it really helps to have people there for you when things get really rough, just someone to turn to that wont judge you, or think that you are looking for attention.

Next time you see someone depressed, don’t automatically think that they are pathetic, or looking for attention.  Get out of your fucking self-centered world and learn something about it for fuck sakes.  Be that person to help them out, not the one that makes it worse.  Those who choose to continue with that train of thought, and looking down on them, fuck you. You’re pathetic.

Alright, so I started College at Conestoga College in September 2008, so about 5 and a half months ago, in Software Engineering Technology and since starting, I have not done much in the realm of excersize and I have been eating a lot of crap food such as greasy pizza and horribly unhealthy breakfast sandwhiches from a lovely place called Tim Hortons.  As a result I have put on about 20 lbs (~ 9 kg), and for being 5′11″, 200lbs is a bit high being that I am actually putting on fat, and it isn’t just muscle.  If it was the latter case where is was muscle, I would not have a problem, but this is not the case.  I have a membership to the gym at school, and I plan on using it.  But the problem is getting into the habbit of going, it is hard to get the motive to keep going, and I was wondering what are some possible techniques that people might suggest to keep the strive to keep going to the gym and other methods (that don’t involved taking pills or other things like that) to help at least turn the fat into muscle.  Another thing that would be beneficial would be suggestions on healthy eating, you know like quick breakfasts and lunches, etc.  Something that doesn’t take a large amount of time to prepare, but is both filling and not detrimental to my health.  If you happen to have any suggestions for either of these things (Ways to keep motivated to go to the gym,  and healthy eating) just drop me a comment here, or direct message me on Twitter @FalconQP

–Ryan

I have decided to change the theme of the blog, found it through http://www.twoslashes.com it is a modification of the theme that he uses.

Also, I think that it has been a while since I have made an update on the blog, so I will do that now. School this semester is pretty awesome, we are getting into a lot of cool things, like Embedded Development and we are also touching on client server development in Linux. The embedded course we are currently working with Freescale 68000 processors and a simulator that is provided for free in which it has “hardware” already attached that we can interface with. This course will lead into a course that we have in September call Real Time Operating Systems in which we will create our own operating system, which will be pretty awesome. The operating systems class will give me the leg up that I need for a project that I wish to get started in a year or so when I will actually have the money to fund it, and as I am putting that project together I will make sure to post updates here. Check the projects link at the top of the page for more information on things that I am currently working on.

This summer I am also applying for Google Summer of Code, which should be a pretty awesome experience, if anyone happens to see this and has any tips on it, feel free to leave me a comment on this page, or even send me a message on Twitter @FalconQP

Done for now.

Just testing twitter feed for my blog.

–Ryan

Christmas gag someone pulled on me and two others. Theirs say “Pricey” and “Blondie”

I was having a conversation with a friend yesterday, who after two years of being with someone he all of a sudden he wanted a break. She is understandably distraught about it all, and we got on the topic of being a “train wreck” so to speak. And realized, you can be in this state, this broken “train wreck” state for quite a while before you even realize it… I was on and off with someone for about two years, and it didn’t work out in the end, but seeing her, even after quite a bit of time of knowing it wouldn’t work out with us, it still hurt seeing her. And I realized last night that I am still a wreck from it… Just pushed it away I guess… Didn’t want to think of it… Just pretended I was over it all and moved on… But after seeing her I know this is not the case… I don’t know what it is. And the advice I have to anyone who happens to read this, give it time, even if you think it is fine right after something…. Give it time, wait, collect yourself. Don’t be a wreck when you go with someone else, it isn’t fair to them. Also, although I may not say it in person all the time, thank you to all my friends and classmates, you really help out, whether you know it or not.

–Ryan.

Here are my classes and their descriptions for Fall 2008 in the Software Engineering Technology course at Conestoga College.

Title: EECE1010 - Digital Fundamentals

Description:

This course introduces the student to the principles and techniques of digital systems and design beginning with the numbering system, basic logic functions, Boolean expressions, truth tables, timing diagrams, circuit reduction, combinational logic circuits, flip-flops, counters, and other related devices. We will also have an introduction to programming simple 8-bit processors. This course serves to provide a basis from which the student can build a working knowledge of digital design and microcomputer-based systems.

Title: INFO1810 - Operating System Fundamentals

Description:

This course focuses on operating system fundamentals from a programmer’s aspect. Issues such as kernel design, multitasking concepts, operating system services, task swapping and memory management will provide students with sufficient background to understand the nature of 32 bit operating systems like Windows NT and UNIX. Topics include service calls, task switching, process descriptors, file systems, memory management, shells, operating system control via command line utilities and scripting, client/server applications, installation issues and configuration.

Title: MATH1110 - Mathematics I (Electronics)

Description:

This course is oriented towards applications of mathematical theory and techniques to analyze and solve fundamental engineering problems. Topics covered include: basic algebraic operations, geometry, functions and graphs, trigonometric functions, systems of linear equations, factoring and fractions, quadratic equations, vectors, exponents and radicals, complex numbers, exponential and logarithmic functions.

Title: PROG1345 - C Programming

Description:

This course will introduce software design and implementation using the C language. Topics include: algorithm design, modular code design, programming style, functions, arrays, pointers, strings, data structures, file I/O and operating system function calls. An emphasis will be placed on proper design to produce maintainable software.

Title: PROG1350 - Software Engineering Fundamentals
Description:

Standard software development methodologies, testing methodologies, and software maintenance topics will be covered to prepare students for real life software development. The course will emphasize proper software design, software development issues, and documentation. The importance of effective software engineering documentation and effective technical communications cannot be stressed enough, especially in today’s Rapid Application Development world. Topics include specification writing for system development and testing, code development, testing methodologies (user interface testing, regression testing, etc.), and software maintenance issues.