Computer Stuff

Earlier today I cleaned out the dust from my computer and added new lights to it. I have been meaning to add these lights since I have bought them with the rest of my parts in 2008. Honestly I was too eager to get the computer running back in the day to install them. Since then I have been a bit too busy to install them. So I have finally got around to it today. Honestly, the actual installation didn't take long at all. Most of it was cleaning out the computer and looking at prospective spots to place the lights. Since this case has massive fans all over it it sucks in dust fairly quickly. So I had to extensively clean it inside and outside. Once it was clean I finally installed the lights. I have two 300mm cold cathodes and one cluster of three LEDs. I remember I was going to get the sound activated cathodes but I thought it was a bit of a gimmick and could get annoying after a while. Also it seems like much unneeded complexity. I think what I have picked looks really nice and high quality. Below is a link to the album of pictures. The cable management of the case is something left to be desired. Most likely in the near future I will upgrade the video card and hard drives as well as add more memory. Every thing else is still pretty solid. I made sure when I built it would be "future-proofed" as much as possible.

Summer Classes

Well the semester has been over for approximately a week so far. I'm taking summer classes, two actually. My first one starts next week and it's four weeks until the end of June. The class is physical education. I like staying fit and such but I think such a class in college is such bs. Whatever. You got to do what you got to do. The next class I'm taking is called "Minority Groups" starting in July. It goes for four weeks as well. This class fulfills my general education requirement. I'm glad I'm keeping busy during the summer with school. Also these classes are a nice break from all of the equations and science.

I'm still waiting on my grades which are probably going to be available next week. Usually it takes two weeks after the semester. I'm nervous but I can't change anything now. What's done is done. I just hope I come out somewhat okay.

Two Finals Down/Getting Better

Well I have done two of my finals out of three so far. I have done my electronic design final last Wednesday and it was pretty difficult. Most other students didn't even leave early before the exam was over. Everyone worked until the last minute so that says it all. After the exam some other students and I collaborated and discussed the difficulty. We all had the same opinion that it was difficult and we all wished each other luck. Jeez.

Then this past Friday I had my Computer-Aided Engineering exam. It was two questions (100pts each) and you had to choose one. I chose to solve a differential equation in Excel. I'm sure I did it correctly. Even if I didn't I can still hope for partial credit and get a decent grade. I had got a 95 and an 85 on the previous two exams so I think I'm in good shape.

I have another final exam on Tuesday evening for Electromagnetics. It's going to be three questions based on all of the stuff we did this semester. Basically Maxwell's Equations in Differential form, electromagnetic waves and transmission lines. It's probably going to be difficult... We'll see what happens.

Also I am feeling better from my sinus infection last week but I honestly still don't feel 100%. More like 90%. My throat is sore and my ear still feels a bit swollen. My eye has healed thanks to the antibiotic eye drops. I don't think I have ever bin this sick besides the flu. It seems to be going around. A lot of people I know seem to be coming down with something. Hopefully by the end of this coming week I'll feel 100%. That's it for now.

Long Update

So to keep this post somewhat simple I have been extremely busy. First I had sold the Dell Streak. However the person that bought it complained that it didn't work and made a large argument about it on eBay. Eventually I had to return his money and he shipped it back to me. Luckily it never got really out of hand to the point where we had to go to court. I tried to squash it as fast and easily as possible. So basically it was like the transaction never happened. Honestly, I don't even want to look at the thing anymore. I got it back from him about two weeks ago and it's been sitting in the package on my floor ever since.

Shortly after that I had become very ill. Coincidence? Anyway it was a really bad Sinus Infection. It started off as a slight cold and went progressively worse in a matter of days. My nose was all swollen and stuffed up. The infection spread to my head and made that all swollen as well. It didn't stop there though. After it went to my ear, last Friday and early Saturday it went to my eye. Yes, that's right. I ended up getting conjunctivitis. So I had to be put on four different types of medications this past week and a half. At least this all happened a week before finals. Still I was so ill I couldn't even read my books let alone eat and sleep. I'm still reeling from the effects of the sickness. My ear still kind of hurts and is swollen. Also my eye still needs the antibiotic drops until this Saturday.

If all of that wasn't enough I have a lot of work to do for school. I finally finished my lab class last week. The one that has us write 25 pages per project... So it was a nice to get that off of my mind. Still today I have my electronic design final. It's open book and open notes unlike the first exam but I'm still nervous. You never know what's going to get thrown at you. I have a take home exam for my Electromagnetics class due late tomorrow and a final exam for my computer aided engineering class on Friday. The electromagnetics exam seems fair however I have to take my time with it to ensure I get a decent grade. As for my computer-aided engineering exam it seems like I got that class locked in. The material covers stuff I already know and I shouldn't have a problem with it. Judging by my past exam grades and how well I know the final exam material I expect a decent grade. The fun doesn't stop there though. I have my electromagnetics final exam on Tuesday, May 22. Then after that the semester is all over.

Ugh, quite a parade of insanity. I'm just glad that today after I take my exam I can go home and rest and finish up my electromagnetics exam. Unlike every other Wednesday in this semester that had me running back and forth. Well I guess that's it for now. The insanity still doesn't stop there though. I think I still have to straighten everything out for my summer semester. All of the financial aid nonsense... But that's another story. Until then.

Dell Is Being Sold

I have posted the auction on eBay this afternoon around 1 p.m. eastern time. I then took a nap shortly after that and then woke up to check the auction a couple of hours later. It has three bids and up to $56.00. The original starting price was set at $50.00. I also have 7 watchers on the action. I think by Thursday everything will turn out great. I also liked posting the auction at this time. It ends at a perfect day, Thursday afternoon. This gives me time to wrap everything up and ship it out by Friday afternoon before I go to school. I'm hoping the projected sale will be about $150.00. At this rate it sure looks to be that way.

Fixed The Dell Streak

So I have finally reloaded the stock AT&T ROM onto my Dell Streak, after many tries this weekend and it works. I have installed the ROM onto the MicroSD card and used the built-in utility to load up the stock Froyo 2.2 package released from AT&T a year ago. I have tried other custom ROMs like Gingerbread but I couldn't seem to get them loaded. Anyway I have tested the device and it seems to work fine. Starts up without a problem and the LEDs no longer flash. I have also done a factory reset and wiped all of my custom settings and data on the device. Now that it's in proper working order I can begin to sell it. I will most likely post it on eBay later on this week. Possibly on Friday night. Normally I don't like to mess around with eBay and their nonsense during the week because it interrupts my school work.

More Updates

Well I have had a chaotic past couple of weeks so far. Many lab reports and exams. That's basically it in a nutshell. I am officially on spring break as of now. However I still have a lab report due the week after next... I really wish I didn't have to do any school work on my vacation but oh well. I have registered for classes this summer and next fall. I'm taking a sociology class in the summer to fulfill some of my general education requirements. Also this upcoming schedule for the fall seems pretty chaotic. There are no gaps which is a good thing however the amount of work is likely to be insane. I'm quite nervous. Although I have figured that the more work one does the faster the semester goes. I have been insanely busy this semester and it has passed by relatively quick.

Aside from school work I haven't been really doing anything else. As of right now I am trying to fix my Dell Streak. Currently it is "bricked" and I'm trying to revert back to an old version of Android by loading a custom ROM onto the device via SD card. I'm just waiting for the battery to charge to 100% before I can proceed. The thing has been sitting for quite sometime and it was completely dead. Hopefully I can get it working again and possibly sell it. Physically it's fine however it just needs a software downgrade. Apparently the official Android 2.2 upgrade from Dell/AT&T doesn't work. It did work for quite some time then all of a sudden it just stopped. Oh well. We'll see how it goes.

Busy, Busy

So in roughly two weeks I have three exams coming up. I have one in Electronic Design, the second in Numerical Analysis and the third in Electromagnetic Radiation. This is going to be treacherous. One decent thing I can think of is that all of these exams are before spring break. So hopefully I can relax a bit during my time off. I must say the Spring semester usually drags out but this semester is going by very quickly. I guess that's what happens when you're constantly studying non-stop and writing thirty-page lab reports every week. I'm not complaining. Keeping busy makes the time go by faster.

The school has already put up the sections for the fall semester. I have picked out what I need already however I'm going to need a waiver for one class due to certain discrepancies. We'll see how well that goes... They shouldn't give me a problem since I'm a senior level student but you never know... Upon considering my classes for this fall semester I have realized that this will actually be my last fall at school. That kind of excites/terrifies me. I don't know what to do outside of school. I guess I'll worry about this more next spring which is my last semester.

Electronic Design

So my Analog and Digital Systems Design Class (Electronic Design) is getting a bit difficult. The homework problems are pretty hard and the class seems to be going by a bit too quickly. Luckily my colleagues think the same thing. Things were relatively simple until we got up to transistors. Then everything just got batshit insane. Tons of equations, methods, variations, properties and anything else you can throw in there. From what I have seen most people do have trouble with transistors. They can be a bit confusing. We have a midterm exam coming up at the end of March which I expect to be an absolute nightmare. I guess the only thing I can do now is review the material and try my best. The professor has extremely high expectations and standards which is not a good thing for students...

Yay!

So I got my numerical analysis exam back (the one I took last week) and I got a 95 on it. The first question was to use C++ to make a program that uses the Newton-Raphson method to calculate a function in a certain number of iterations. I messed up the derivative so he took off 5 points. Then the second question was to use Microsoft Excel to find a solution to a system of linear equations. Got that one completely right. So all in all pretty good. Especially compared to the rest of the class. When I walked into class, late mind you, he was going through the exams to give me mine and I looked at the grades. All I saw was 0, 15, 35, 0... Wow. I guess some people just really didn't review the material or take time to program some stuff before hand. Well I'm happy with my result.