Ryan’s Blog

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.

It has been a long time since just smiling without any specific thing making me do so at the time… I mean even when happy I would always smile when I am with the person, but I needed to be talking to or seeing them to make me smile. As a kid I used to always be smiling, I was definitely something I always did. I don’t know when I stopped, could have been any of the bad times… Point is, it had been a long time. But here is sit, on the bus, just smiling, smiling because she is coming to town in three days. Smiling because she is with me. But most of all smiling because she really cares for me too. It has been a long time, and it really feels amazing. Thank you for showing me that all is not lost, thank you for taking the chance with me, for liking all the weird shit that I do. I know it is hard being so far from each other, but we are still making the most of it, and I really think we have a good chance at lasting a while. See you in a few days my darling Natasha.
–Ryan

So this weekend was my first visit to Ottawa.  I left friday, at around 7:00 AM on a train, and I arrived in Ottawa around 2:30 PM.  The train ride wasn’t too bad, I was just really anxious the entire time… ha ha.  Anyway, I met up with Natasha once she had finished class, and then we went and hung out and watched a movie, went to the grocery store, and just generally had a good time.   Saturday we decided that we should go out for our first actual date, and we went to this place called “The Green Door” which was excellent, it is a cafeteria style restaurant focusing on vegetarian and organic foods.  Pretty much you grabbed a tray, a plate and filled it up with food, and then for pricing they just weighed it and based on the weight determines what the price of the meal.  It is a pretty awesome idea, and the food was excellent, and the dessert, oh man, it was superb. :).  Then that leads us to today.  Although today is the day that I left, we hadn’t done any sight seeing, and so we went to the Canadian Parliament and took some pictures of the buildings, quite a few, and Natasha kinda looked at me and said “You’re going to waste all of your film”… I was using a digital camera… *sigh* :p.  All in all it was a really good weekend, and I am definitely glad that I went.  I can’t wait to see Natasha again, which is in three weeks, and I also can’t wait to go see Ottawa again.  Especially during the winter, will be great fun!  I will add a link to photo’s when I get home, and have a chance.

–Ryan

Looks like I don’t have to wait until Thankgiving after all ;).   We started dating officially last night :D.

Thanksgiving this year, something I am definately looking forward to. Going to be chillin with some good friends, some new people, family, and when it will be discussed about long distance relationship. If you are reading this, then you probably know who I am talking about. But yeah, I think things might just work out this time. She is definately something special, she is really sweet, absolutely adorable. We have a lot of common ground to build a solid foundation on, which will be done over the next month or so. Wish me good luck, I am definetely hoping for this chance at the very least
–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.

So today, Devin, Kass and I went to Mongolian Grill, and there was this cute girl that was the one to seat us.  And Kass noticed that she was kinda staring at me, and then she ended up serving us due to the fact that our waiter was “not available” yet… Said waiter seemed to have been a douche, as she was giving evil glares at him the entire time we were there…  Now I thought, hey, this girl is cute, and she seems to have some sort of interest.  And so I wrote my name and number down, and I gave it to her, and said something along the lines of “I hope the rest of your day goes better than it is now”, smiled, and passed her my number.  She looked at it for a moment, opened it, saw the number, smiled, and walked away and put it in her pocket… (so says Kass…).  I am now at the point of wondering if she will actually call, whether she has a boyfriend, etc, etc.  But hey, it was worth a shot, I never have been in that situation, so I thought that I might as well give it a go… And if she does call, then hell that is great :), would be awesome, even if only friendship comes from it.  Meeting new people is always good.

–Ryan

Well, I have reinstalled Linux on my server, but the desktop version of Ubuntu this time.  I did this because I am also going to be installing it on my desktop as well, and being able to remote in is something that I want to be able to do.  I had to re-set up my SVN, that was a bit of a pain, but thanks to google, I found this tutorial to help me set it up for the second time.  I will not go through that willingly again…  Anyway, server seems to almost be done being set-up, next is to tackle the desktop…

–Ryan

So I have decided to install Ubuntu onto my flash drive, what they call Persistent Ubuntu, basically, it allows you to run Ubuntu off your flash drive so that you may keep your files over multiple computers as you are never saving the files on those computers, there are instructions Here. I may also truecrypt the entire thing if possible, but we shall see..

–Ryan

EDIT: First attempt unsuccessful… maybe I will just try to find one already designed for persistent…

EDIT2: Nevermind, I got it working but I used this instead.

So, I am taking Software Engineering Technology (AKA SET) at Conestoga College starting in 3 weeks or so (September 2).  I have purchased my books, and I am just waiting for them to come in.  I should be getting my schedule on Monday, which will help determine whether I am able to still work at my current job at University of Waterloo.  I am really looking forward to this year, but there are a few things I am definately going to miss, like Kass and Devin, buggers are moving away for school.  Anyway, this is all for now I guess.

–Ryan