[Kylan's Blog] CptS 562 Final Project Proposal

I just completed my half-page final project proposal for my fault tolerant computing class (CptS 562). You can view it if you want.

[Kylan's Blog] TraCS Logo

I've created a new logo for the transmitter control simulator (TraCS) program I'm working on:

[Kylan's Blog] The Cougars and God -- faith in basketball

This article from the Spokesman Review talks about God's role in this year's Cougar Men's Basketball team. With this in mind, it's easy to see where the team gets its composure, maturity, and humility.

If you enjoyed this, I also suggest that you check out Why We Play, an article by Peter Leithart, a pastor in Moscow, Idaho.

[Kylan's Blog] Snow!?

Pullman is getting dumped on. This is a lot of snow, especially considering the fact that we're half way through the last week in March.

[Kylan's Blog] Weston Visit

Weston's back on the Palouse this week with a spring break missions team from Western. He's leading the group, which will be doing contact evangelism at U of I. They're pretty busy, though, so my only chance to see him was last night at Chi Alpha. It was good to see him, although we didn't have much of a chance to talk about anything in depth.

[Kylan's Blog] Spring EP Released

You can now download Jon Foreman's new Spring EP. I suggest getting it here, because it's cheaper. I listening to the first track right now, and it's very springy. A full review is coming, so stay tuned.

[Kylan's Blog] Tourney Update

After two rounds, my bracket has 42 points on Facebook and 46 on Google. I've had a lot of problems with the Midwest and the West, and that will continue to hurt for the rest of the tournament. The South didn't do very well for me in the first round, but everything got corrected in the second round. Finally, I'm 100% in the East. Let's hope that streak continues, especially since I have WSU beating UNC to get to the Elite Eight!

[Kylan's Blog] Sweet Sixteen!

How sweet it is! Go Cougs, all the way!

[Kylan's Blog] Palouse Discovery Science Center

Sometime last fall, EECS decided that Project Fuji's work would be good material for a display at the Palouse Discovery Science Center. A few weeks ago, Dr. Pedrow emailed me with some questions regarding the project. I told him what I knew, and offered to help in any way I could. Today we visited the science center with Dr. Mohamed Osman and Patricia Arnold. We spoke with the executive director, Victoria Scalise, and discussed the possibility of an EECS-sponsored exhibit. It was very helpful to get a tour of the science center and get a feel for what kinds of exhibits were there. Maybe I'll come up with some conceptual drawings for the new display this weekend.

[Kylan's Blog] Literature Survey

Over spring break and the past week, I've been working on a literature survey for my fault tolerance class. Well, it's finally done!  Here it is, in case you want to read it. Now I can get on with the rest of my life.

[Kylan's Blog] Georgia on My Mind

Dang, my Cinderella team didn't even make it past the first round. Oh, Georgia, your were doing so well! Now my bracket is already ruined.

[Kylan's Blog] My Bracket

Here's my bracket for the 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Go Cougs!

[Kylan's Blog] Silo Sandwiches

This week WSU reopened the Rotunda dining center, with new food options, modern architecture, and a new name - The Southside Cafe. Before leaving for spring break, I saw an advertisement for new features being offered at Southside. It championed these things called "silo sandwiches," which seemed strangely familiar to me.

Before going on, I have to tell you about The Staggering Ox, a Spokane restaurant Kristen and I ate at last semester. I really liked the novel idea of "bread tubes" that hold sandwich fillings. In fact, I liked it so much that I asked the employees about how they make them. They informed me that their company holds a patent on the bread pan and corer tool design, so their franchise is the only company that can produce these sandwiches.

From what I can tell, silo sandwiches are same thing as what's sold at the Staggering Ox. Considering the Staggering Ox patents, how can Southside legally make and sell these sandwiches? If they haven't made the necessary arrangements, WSU could be sued and lose a lot of money. If I were the Staggering Ox, I would license out the pan and corer for a cut of the dining center profits. If they could get 5 or 10 cents per sandwich, it would be a great deal.

I wish there was an easier way to find out more about this whole situation. Maybe the Daily Evergreen could run a story on it.

[Kylan's Blog] Spring EP Release: March 25th

Jon Foreman's Spring EP, the third of four he's releasing this year, will be available for download on March 25th. You'll be able to purchase it from the Amazon.com music store, or from JonForeman.com. The preview clips are very promising, and I anticipate that the last three songs will be the best.

[Kylan's Blog] Basketball Signage

I know this is belated, but I'm still very happy that the Cougars beat the Huskies last Saturday. It was the perfect way for our beloved seniors to go out. I think they stretched the game to two overtimes just to prolong their departure. I just wanted to note that our student section was displaying some great signage at the game. I even saw two "Allez Les Cougs" posters, which I especially appreciated. My favorite, though, was one directed to the Huskies and their fans:

Just Face It:
You're A
Football
Basketball
Volleyball
School

[Kylan's Blog] Home for the Week

Today Jaron and I traveled to the west side of the state for spring break. We got an early start and arrived home just before 1PM. It's nice to be back over here again, and it's especially good to see my folks. Both Mom and Dad seemed excited to see us. Tonight we had salmon for dinner and went over to the Pasquans' to watch Premonition.

My dad is working on moving his classroom to a new campus, and one of his goals is to get a working transmitter simulator his students can use. He asked if I could write some software to simulate different types of transmitter-related alarms and I said I could give it a try. Since I've been really happy with NetBeans lately, I decided to take my first shot at GUI programming in Java. So far it's going pretty well, and I'm gaining a lot of exposure to Swing and AWT. One thing I still need to figure out is how to play sound clips to represent alarms. There doesn't seem to be any super-simple way to do this, so it might have to get creative. Once I get a little further along I'll post the code along with some screen shots.

With this new project, I now have three major goals to accomplish over spring break:

1. Write a 20-page literature review
2. Work out all of the kinks in my research simulator
3. Finish at least a beta version of my transmitter simulator

Should be a busy break.

[Kylan's Blog] Tolerating Hard Faults in Microprocessor Array Structures

Last Thursday I made a presentation to my fault tolerant computing class. It was on a paper entitled "Tolerating Hard Faults in Microprocessor Array Structures" by Fred A. Bower, Paul G. Shealy, Sule Ozev, and Daniel J. Sorin. My slides are here. It went pretty well, although I wish I could have found a topic that's more in line with my research.

[Kylan's Blog] Invitations in the Wild

Last weekend Vic and Karl visited Pullman, and they helped us assemble our wedding invitations. Even with so many hands working feverishly, the project still took over 5 hours to complete. I was in charge of numbering the response cards, applying stamps, stuffing the envelopes, and licking them shut. Yesterday Kristen dropped them in the mail, so be looking for them to arrive within the next few days.

[Kylan's Blog] My February Songbook

This year, the end of February means the end of FAWM and the RPM Challenge. From the start, it was clear to me that I probably wouldn't be able to complete the RPM part of my goal. I just can't play enough instruments, I don't own any fancy recording equipment, and Jaron and I weren't able to get together often enough to lay down tracks. I did have high hopes for FAWM, though. That is, until this past week of school buried me alive.

I'm sad to say that I only ended up with 9 complete songs, but I'm happy to report that this is still a major accomplishment. Remember, prior to this month I had never written a song in my life. It was a completely new experience, and it helped me understand a lot more about music. For the most part, I'm pretty proud of my songs, too. Here they are:

"The Reason for Pain"

If our God is a God of Love
what's the reason for all this pain?
Our days are long, our lives are rough
we're just tired of toil and strain

Chorus:
The truth is that we're sinners
and we deserve so much worse
Father, save us from ourselves
forgive us, wicked and perverse

Almighty God, consume our hearts
apart from You, no one is good
We still do what we should not do
and keep avoiding what we should

But God alone has the power
to transform and renew your life
Call on Him to receive freedom
and meaning deeper than your pain

"If We Lived in Mexico"

I wish we lived in Mexico
I'd write my songs in Espanol
It'd be so fantastico
If we lived in Mexico

We'd spend all day in a siesta
Then at night have a fiesta
That's the life, it'd be the best-a
If we lived in Mexico

Play a game of street futbol
Drink tequila alcohol
Hear Arturo Sandoval
If we lived in Mexico

We'd invite good ol' Vicente
Yes, the former Presidente
To our humble little partay
If we lived in Mexico

"How Awesome Are Your Deeds"

Shout with joy, all the earth
Sing the glory of His name
Come and see what God has done
the awesome works on our behalf

Chorus:
How awesome are your deeds!
So great is your power
all that hate you cringe and run away
And all the earth bows down
they sing praise to you
They sing and shout and yell praise to your name

He turned the sea into dry land
They walked across on foot
He rules forever by his power
His eyes watch o'er the nations

Test us, O God
Refine us like silver
(x2)

"Think About These Things"

Chorus:
Whatever is true
Whatever is noble
Whatever is right and pure and lovely
Think about these things
Whatever is admirable
Whatever is excellent
Whatever is worthy of your praise
Think about these things

The enemies of the cross of Christ
Their destination is destruction
They are ruled by their stomachs
Shame is their glory
Their mind is on earthly things

Do everything without complaining
that you may become blameless and pure
children of God without fault
Shining like the stars
Holding out the word of life

Rejoice, show your gentleness to all
The Lord is near, so do not worry
Present your requests to God
And the peace of God
will guard your hearts and your minds

"To My Fiance"

I promise you will always know
how much I love you, baby
My love for you will always grow
no ifs or buts or maybes
Cause when I look into your eyes
or see your smile I realize
Our loves the kind that drives out fears
keeps up together throughout the years

I remember when we became friends
we spoke so long after the movie's end
We both like someone else
so we were free to be ourselves
Then every week we met for lunch
we talked and ate and laughed a bunch
In the hard times we cried
but you were always by my side

Standing that day on that bridge
you didn't know but I sure did
Our lives were about to change
a better kind of change
I said some words, you listened to me
we both looked at the scenery
I dropped down on one knee
and asked you to marry me

I can't wait to marry you in June
you'll be my bride and I'll be your groom
Surrounded by friends and family
It'll be a beautiful ceremony
We'll start a new life, have kids of our own
work really hard and buy a home
Fill it with love and laughter
live happily ever after

"Valentines"

Kristen when I look in your eyes
I feel a love so deep inside

You have a smile that warms my day
And makes my cares just melt away

I love you more than songs can show
But I wrote this so you would know

I am yours and you are mine
We make the perfect Valentines.

"Hear My Cry, O God"

From the ends of the earth I call,
I call you as my heart grows faint;
lead me to the rock
that's higher than I.

For you have been my refuge, God,
a strong tower against the foe.
Hear my cry, O God;
listen to my prayer.

I long to dwell in your tent
and take refuge forever in
the shelter of your wings.
the shelter of your wings.

"Lots of Snow"

Snow snow snow-snow snow
snow-snow-snow snow snow

Oh no! Oh no snow!
Snow oh no! Oh snow no!

Snow is here, snow is there
Snow is even in your hair.

Everywhere. Snow is there.
Who is there? snow is there!

Do you even really care?
You should really truly care?

I just saw a polar bear.
Who what where? A Polar Bear.

Was he at the county fair? No
hibernating in his lair.

Wait that's just snowshoe hare
Stupid boy,
Hey that's not fair!

If you hunt him use a snare
Eat that yellow snow I dare

Snow snow snow-snow snow
snow-snow-snow snow snow

Snow snow snow-snow snow
snow-snow-snow snow snow

The end.

"Like Losing a Friend"

I refused to believe that last spring was the end
We were roommates and pals... you were my best friend
But I should've known better, I'd seen all the signs
When summers came round, you cut all the lines

--- Chorus ---
I miss you my friend, you seem so far away
I wish we could talk, every couple of days
A phone call, an email, a letter or card
You'd think that it wouldn't be hard
You'd think that it wouldn't be hard

--- Verse 2 ---
Now, I'm half to blame, yes I could've done more
More patient persistence, keep an open door
But this time around, the summer is endless
Please tell me now, how do we mend this

--- Bridge ---
We're at a grand canyon, you're on that side
I'm reaching out, but your face you hide
Come back to me friend, we'll turn a new leaf
We'll start over new, and forget all this grief

-- Outro ---
I refused to believe that last spring was the end
But it felt a whole lot, like losing a friend
It felt a whole lot... like losing a friend