I’m taking an open source software engineering class at PSU, and I have a presentation to the class about Embedded system programming, and how writing open source software for embedded systems is different than writing other types of open source software.

Many articles on the web introduce the Open Source concept to embedded system engineers, this presentation attempted to do the opposite: introduce embedded system engineering to open source advocates.

Embedded Open Source

It is already the last week of class for me here at Portland State. I just got my second mid-term back in my physics class, and I got a C on it, which compared to how well I felt that I did, isn’t that bad of a grade. It sends me into the final exam with a B in the class.

I feel that if I were to take this same class at BYU, the test would be more difficult and the grading also would not be so generous; so instead of sitting at a B, I would be struggling to find a passing grade.

I’m suspicious that perhaps classes at Portland State are easier, but because I’m only taking two, the sample size is not large enough to determine such.

With just a couple of weeks into this year’s basketball season, I think the BYU Cougars deserve more respect.  Although they only have played 4 games, their only loss has been to a team which is currently ranked first in some polls.

If the Cougars can stay diligent to winning for just a few more games, then I think they will find the respect that they deserve now. It is important to remember that BYU traditionally is a team which gets a lot better as the season progresses.  They are starting warm now, and I think they are going to end hotter than lava.

BYU, I lava you.

Some people write in secret blogs. Some people write so cryptically that no one understands what they are saying anyway. Tonight I hope to achieve both.

I love clean teeth. I mean, I love it when my teeth are clean. I guess I also like it when others teeth are clean, but that takes second place to my own teeth being clean. Fortunately, I haven’t come across appropriate occasion to share a life-saver.

I think I’ve gained some weight this week. Too many pies, cookies, and thanksgiving food. Too little exercise. Maybe the time is appropriate to enact certain plans to keep this putative weight gain from being a problem.

I mentioned a few days earlier that I think I’ve discovered my evil proclivity toward procrastination. I think I get some sort of adrenalin rush off of trying to do things at the last moment. As with many other addictions, there are side effects, and I think at times my addiction messes up my emotional balance. It also causes stress. Fortunately, I’ve gotten pretty good at dealing with this, but that doesn’t mean that over time it can’t wear me down if I don’t seek help in some way or another. It should be a red flag if TV commercials can cause allergic eye reactions. That is unless the commercial happens to be one of those LDS “family: its about time” commercials. They always get me. Actually, there is only about one thing that has a chance to get me, and it is displays of selflessness and love toward others. I’m off topic now, but the point is that I need to find some way to get myself off this addiction.

Sometimes living on a rainy island, isolated from the fears and tears, is worse than riding out the hurricane. Mixing metaphors like it is chocolate chip cookie dough, the seeds being to create new bridges between the worlds. When I reach the other side, will I recognize myself as the person who was worthy enough to harvest the crop? I once thought that I was missing something like crazy nothing, until I found that life-savers dissolve more quickly than one would like. Now I’m afraid to desire that which is departed with fears that I may find the well traveled path. Me and my gang were never enough to resolve the disputes between the heart, fingers, and eyes. Jumping off the train is always scarier than jumping on, but not any more severe than the fright of unknowingly staying on. Angels to comfort; seeing single rather than double; you can help. When I hear the song, I can’t help but to think what if you and I forgot that friendship on the cold night when stars fell from the sky. The most important thing to remember is you. Electrical pulses dancing on the lines, please show me the directions and show me the signs.

BYU beat Utah today with pull-over-mama fashion worthy of never being forgotten.

Because I won’t be there to see it. The last two times BYU beat Utah in football were 2000 and 2001, which were the two seasons that I served my mission in Romania. My freshman year, 1999, BYU lost.

This year I’m in Oregon studying, which means that BYU will probably win because once again I won’t be there to see it.

I have some friends who are friends with BYU basketball player Gavin MacGregor who got some play time tonight. From the game recap:

Walk-on Gavin MacGregor made his first career appearance in the first half. In the second half MacGregor scored his first points as a Cougar. MacGregor also blocked a shot.

Now apparently these friends have taken to calling Gavin, “Gavinpants.” I’m not sure exactly why, but I remember being around these friends when Gavin called on the telephone only to hear them shout, “Gavinpants.”

One of these friends blogged about the game and cheering for “Gavinpants” (worth the read), and I thought I would like to hear at least the parts where Gavin played, and I excerpted those parts in this mp3 file (about 1 minute).

One thing that impressed me generally about the game is the second half dominance by BYU. I’ve watched so many games where the first half was commanding, only to loose the commanding lead early in the second half. That didn’t happen with this game, and I’m glad.

I must be a nerd because web site security worries keeps me awake at night. Tonight I was worried about particular web site designs that might discourage users from logging out and I was curious about how many users were actually logging out.

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I think I finally figured out what is wrong with me. I promised myself I wouldn’t blog until my test is over later today, but I wanted to write it down lest I forget.

My problem is that my biggest (and sometimes only effective) motivator is urgency, which is why I tend to procrastinate. The problem is that urgency also causes stress which starts messing with my head and emotions and throws the rest of me out of balance.

I don’t know why urgency is such a big motivator in comparison to other things, and I don’t know how to change it, but at least identifying it might help me.

I’ll explain more later, after the test is done.

The following article is from 2006. Click here for 2007 Las Vegas Bowl information.

I’m not all knowing when it comes to football bowl games, but I do know enough to try and guess. The number 4 team from the Pac-10 will go to the Las Vegas Bowl to play BYU. It could be any of these teams: Oregon, Oregon State, UCLA, Arizona, Arizona State, and Washington State.

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Today BYU will become the Mountain West Conference football champions. All they have to do is beat New Mexico at home. To get psyched up, I went to Google Video to watch some clips. I’ve been in Oregon and haven’t seen but one game on TV and one game live, and I don’t think I fully realized just how talented of a team BYU really is. Amazing. I’ve been listening to the games from KSL.com, and I know the team is good. They are really good. Normally during the last home game of the season they present blankets or whatever to the seniors on the team after the game. This year they are honoring the seniors before the game. I think that is because they want to leave time after the game to announce the championship and the bid to the Las Vegas bowl.

While I was at Google Video, I came across some video of Men’s basketball from last year. Specifically the most amazing BYU comeback I’ve ever seen. I was there, live, in the Marriott Center. It was truly amazing. With just over a minute left, I might had even lost hope in a BYU win, but I was wrong, and I was amazed. I hate to admit it, but watching this clip (below) I almost got a little teary eyed. allergies I’m sure. Anyway, hopefully we will continue to be amazed through the winter with BYU basketball.