[Kylan's Blog] Honeymoon Tickets

A couple of days ago, Kristen and I purchased the airplane tickets for our honeymoon.  We're flying down to Tampa, Florida for a week, starting from St. Louis and returning to Spokane. Now we just have to figure out what to do while we're there. It will probably involve venturing down to Naples, and maybe even Key West. We'll have to see.

[Kylan's Blog] Almost Through

Well, this week has gone surprisingly well, considering the to-do list from my previous post. I finished the computer exercise by staying up all night, but didn't lose much more sleep over anything else. I worked hard on my research-related activities, and my adviser was really impressed at the final product. Studying for my exam was one of the last things I wanted to do, but I put in my time and the exam went well. Now all I have left are a couple of hours at SEL and my presentation this afternoon. Thank God for His help this week, it would have been too much to handle on my own.

[Jaron's Blog] Important Events

     As a college student I have been privileged to be a busy person.  Hooray!  But there are some important events coming up very soon in the next few weeks, this week included.
     The first one is tomorrow, on Thursday.  Even though it is not mentioned on the DupyCal, there is a Jazz Band performance at the WSU Art Museum at the noon hour.  All are invited and welcome to listen.  Sorry for the short notice, but the band itself only found out this week.  It feels pretty last minute to us.
     Secondly, the Bunco Party that I am hosting in Honors Hall is at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.  I would recommend coming, because there will be stuff for everybody, in the form of hard candy.
     The next thing is something interesting.  The Washington Secretary of State is coming to the Pullman area next week, and it will be interesting to hear him speak.  He will be appearing at a church, and then at Neill Public Library.  I don't not currently know the times or dates for those two events.
     Additionally, ASWSU elections are commencing soon, and I encourage all WSU students to do some minor research on the candidates, concerning they have a pretty sizable budget.
     The week of March 10th will be WSU's Spring Break, and after that week I will have some papers and tests to do.
     That is basically the whole gist of the post, things that I'm finding interesting that will be coming up, and just a short briefing on the whole situation in terms of times and events.

[Kylan's Blog] No Rest for the Weary

This is a very packed week for me. It's funny because most of the semester has been pretty reasonable, and now I'm staying up late every night. Last night (this morning?) I went to bed at 6:30AM, only to wake up for class again at 8. Here's what I've been working on:

1. creating multiplier algorithm and demo program for my research
2. reading a proposal for future work by my research group
   
3. completing computer exercise for my data communications class
4. studying for an exam in data communications
5. reading papers for my fault tolerance class
6. choosing papers for my fault tolerance literature survey
   
7. selecting a paper for presentation in fault tolerance
8. preparing the slides for my fault tolerance presentation
9. helping EECS start a solar power display for the Palouse Science Discovery Center

At least it will all be over by Friday.

[Kylan's Blog] The Reason for Pain

Another song in my quest for deeper praise and worship songs. This one covers a serious question that many people find quite troublesome.

The idea for this subject came to me after listening to an interview on NPR's Fresh Air. It featured religious studies professor Bart D. Ehrman, an individual who "converted" from Christianity to agnosticism after he couldn't reconcile the problem of pain ('If God is Love, why do people suffer?'). On the show he stated his arguments and rebutted common explanations, but I was surprised that he didn't consider the possibility that we deserve at least as much pain as we get in our lives.

There was no pain before the Fall, and the Bible is very clear that the consequences of sin are pain and, eventually, death. We are depraved creatures who don't deserve to live in God's world. The Bible teaches that God is just and that He hates sin. It is only by God's grace and love that we are saved from His awesome wrath. We are unworthy of everything we have in our lives, especially since we should be experiencing the ultimate punishment of Hell. With this point of view, we should even rejoice in our worst suffering because it is still better than what we really deserve.

Of course, my arguments rely on a number of presuppositions, so atheists and others will be quick to discount them. Fine, I can argue the merits of my assumptions later. But Mr. Ehrman was a Christian before he lost his faith in God. This means that he shared my basis for thought. I just don't see how we as Christians can have the audacity to expect a cushy life from God. Instead, we should realize how blessed we are and praise God for the overly gracious gifts He's given us.

Mr. Ehrman, I think your should reconsider your position. This song's for you.

"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

[Kylan's Blog] If We Lived In Mexico

"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

[Kylan's Blog] Opportunities with Avista

Today I went to a talk given by Don Kopczynski, Vice President of Operations at Avista Utilities. He spoke on the current and future challenges facing power utilities, with an emphasis on opportunities for new graduates at Avista. As I've learned from my time at SEL, the business of power generation and distribution is dynamic and exciting. Also, because of the pending retirement of the baby boomers, utility companies are hurting for young engineers. Don said that Avista will experience 50% employee turnover over the next five years on account of this.

[Kylan's Blog] Fidel's Void

I don't expect it to make any sense... but it's funny to us.

Kylan Robinson wrote
at 4:59pm

Che....

Here are my picks for "Leaders of the Enslaved World, Version 2.0." The world is a rapidly changing place, so it makes sense that evil must evolve over the course of time.

1) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran and avid hockey fan
2) Kim Jong Il, Chairman of the National Defense Commission, Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, and former James Bond villain
3) Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela and Beach Boys enthusiast. Plus, he has prior experience.

I admit that some of these qualifications are unverified, but I feel that I am a very good judge of character so they must be true.

What do you think?

Your friend,
Fuser

Weston Stover wrote
at 11:36pm yesterday

Fuser,
Do you realize that two-thirds of the "Leaders of the Enslaved World" are now defunct? Shall we find replacements or simply retire their numbers? I feel there may be deserving candidates waiting for a chance.
Regretfully,
Che

Kylan Robinson wrote
at 10:52pm yesterday

Dear Che,
We must organize a fitting memorial for our beloved Fidel. This is a very sad day. And he's not even dead yet.
-Fuser

[Kylan's Blog] Planet EECS Down

Planet EECS has been down for the last few days. On February 7th, it contributed 1,247 page views to the DupyBlog, according to Feedburner. The next day, after that insane amount of traffic, the site went down. I emailed the administrator, and he said he was working on a solution. Hopefully it will come soon, because most of the DupyBlog's publicity comes from this site.

[Kylan's Blog] Philippians 4:8

In Sunday school last week, the topic related to Philippians 4:8. I decided to try to write a song about it.

"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

[Kylan's Blog] Praise and Worship

Here's a try at an interesting song. I wanted to try something in the style of modern day praise and worship songs, but with lyrics straight from the Bible. I didn't change the words too much, so it's kind of a fun contrast.

"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)

[HiPerCoPS] Multiplier Computation Process

Here's the process for setting up and calculating a result with a multiplier:

1. Create the multiplier
   
2. Specify the operands
   
3. Perform the computation
4. Return the result

Of course, this is hugely generalized. I'll write more about the details of each step in separate posts.

[HiPerCoPS] Cell Interconnect

I really want to find a simple and clean way to connect the cells of a functional unit together. One option is to implement each cell with eight different pointers and connect the cells directly with these pointers. Connecting these pointers to an intermediate class is another possibility. This could help if I ever need to model delay, pipelining, or connection faults, but adds complexity to the overall system. Maybe the cells could account for delay, pipelining, and faults just as easily. I'll have to think about it more.

[HiPerCoPS] SVN Repository Up

Today I figured out how to connect my NetBeans IDE to the Google Code SubVersion repository for the project. Now you can browse through the latest version of my code, which at the moment only includes the multiplier algorithm proof of concept.

[Kylan's Blog] Falling Behind

Well, I'm falling behind for FAWM and RPM. I've written 5 songs, so it's not hopeless, but I have to write a few songs this weekend. Here's my latest one. I wrote it for Valentine's day.

"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

[Kylan's Blog] Current Playlist

A couple of weeks ago I made an "On the Go" playlist for my iPod, and it has quickly become my favorite set of songs to listen to.

"Pretender" - Foo Fighters

I've liked this song ever since hearing about it on NPR's Fresh Air.

"Check Yes Juliet" - We the Kings

Once in a while, one of the iTunes free songs is actually good music.

"New Soul" - Yael Naim

This is the song on the MacBook Air commercials. I like it because I would really like to get a MacBook Air, but I also think it's a creative song with an unusual but great sound.

"Learning to Die" - Jon Foreman

In my opinion, this is one of the best songs Jon has ever written. In his life. I really like the melody and the lyrics. The background horns and vocals are spot on.

"Calling You" - Blue October

Kristen and I discovered this song together. My favorite part is the last chorus.

"Rebuild" - Switchfoot with Relient K

I kick myself every time I remember that I missed out on seeing them perform live. Also, I like the idea of being called part of the "Re" generation.

There it is. Six songs. Check them out.

[HiPerCoPS] Goals for 2/19/08

1. Implement multiplier cell types A-F at the cell level.
2. Establish inter-cell connections.
3. Perform multiplications.
   

[HiPerCoPS] Lowest Level of Abstraction

Today I met with Dr. Delgado, and we decided that the Cell will be the lowest level of abstraction for my simulator software. This is good because it will allow me to take a few shortcuts to speed up the development process. For example, if we included the Element level I would have to spend a lot of time implementing single bit operations. Of course, this might create some problems when we try to branch out of the math mode realm and implement some memory units. I think it will be alright, though, since my software architecture can differentiate between math cells and memory cells.

[Jaron's Blog] Former Ambassador Wendy Chamberlin

I had an interesting opportunity this week to listen to the former U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan, Wendy Chamberlin.  She has served 29 years in the U.S. Foreign Service, the diplomatic corps wing of the Department of State.  Her stories were interesting and informative.  She has spent time in several foreign nations and worked in the UN dealing with refugee problems at one time.  She is currently the President of the Middle East Institute, a think tank based in Washington D.C.

Many people posed some interesting questions to her, which she answered with a lot of good information.  It's really a good opportunity to learn not only about the situation of foreign affairs in general, but also about the inner workings of government agencies like the State Department.  About half of what she talked about was concerning the multiple bureaucratic levels of organization that she has dealt with over the years, not just in the United States, but also in the governments of other nations.

Another interesting topic was the attitudes toward the United States and Americans in foreign countries.  For the most part, her stories indicated that foreign nations and peoples are rarely, if ever, lukewarm toward the United States.  Either there is a lot of good sentiment or bad sentiment, but usually not anything in between.  At least, this is what I heard from the tidbits she had shared.

Overall, it was an exciting opportunity to go hear her speak and to ask her questions.  I had some questions that I did ask and did get answered, and so I am pretty satisfied with that opportunity.  The speaker series that the Global Studies department probably has some more good people that they are going to call up to WSU, so it will probably be a good idea to look out and attend those as well.

[Kylan's Blog] Valentines

This one's a little early for Valentine's Day, but that's okay.

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.

FAWM page

[Kylan's Blog] A Disappointing "Beyond" Department

Yesterday Kristen and I went over to Moscow to start our wedding gift registry at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. It was pretty fun to run around the store with bar code scanners and zap everything in sight. We registered for a lot of kitchen and bath items that will come in really handy. We also selected couple of more expensive items as "wish list" items. In the end, we scanned over 120 different bar codes. The whole process took a couple of hours, and I was exhausted when it was all over. It was fun, but I must say that I was a bit disappointed with the "beyond" department of the store. I was expecting more gizmos and gadgets, but it was mostly filled with massage pads and shaving mirrors.

[Kylan's Blog] "Hear My Cry, O God"

This is song number three on the month. One of my goals for FAWM was to adapt some scripture into song lyrics. This is the first song in that category, and it's based on the first half of Psalm 61.

"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.

[Kylan's Blog] Craigslist Post

I just posted Kristen's entertainment center on Craigslist. You can view it here.

[Kylan's Blog] More Difficult than I Thought

This songwriting stuff is more difficult than I thought it would be. I hadn't anticipated the way other music I listen to tends to seep into the songs I write. For instance, the other day I wrote a song and the melody of the verse sounds an awful lot like "Somebody's Baby" by Jon Foreman. That's a shame because I really liked how it worked with the rest of the song. I'm hoping to be able to change a few of the notes but keep the same feeling. Maybe I should stop listening to music for the rest of the month. Today is day six of the project, so I need to pump out my third full song this afternoon.

[HiPerCoPS] Multiplier Proof of Concept

Yesterday I finished a proof of concept for my multiplier algorithms. The program takes n, m, and the multiplier type as inputs and prints out the appropriate multiplier layout. I was able to use the program to produce a 5000x5000 bit multiplier in about 1min30s.

[Kylan's Blog] Collaborative Song

For FAWM this year, one of the songs needs to be written in collaboration with someone else. I took care of that requirement this afternoon with Jaron. We came up with this one pretty quickly, actually, and we're both quite happy with it. A recorded demo is available on the DupyCast, although you can also listen to it here.

"Lots of Snow"

A               D
Snow snow snow-snow snow
G                      A
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.

[Kylan's Blog] First Song Finished

I've finished my first song for FAWM and the RPM Challenge. It's called "Like Losing a Friend." I worked out the chords and the melody with Jaron this afternoon, so expect a recording to show up on the DupyCast by the end of the month.

--- Verse 1 ---
D D7
I refused to believe that last spring was the end
D D7
We were roommates and pals... you were my best friend
Gmaj7 G6
But I should've known better, I'd seen all the signs
D
When summers came round, you cut all the lines

--- Chorus ---
A Bmin
I miss you my friend, you seem so far away
A Bmin
I wish we could talk, every couple of days
G A Bmin G
A phone call, an email, a letter or card
Emin A
You'd think that it wouldn't be hard
G A D
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 ---
C A
We're at a grand canyon, you're on that side
C A
I'm reaching out, but your face you hide
C A
Come back to me friend, we'll turn a new leaf
C A
We'll start over new, and forget all this grief

-- Outro ---
D D7
I refused to believe that last spring was the end
D D7
But it felt a whole lot, like losing a friend
G A D
It felt a whole lot... like losing a friend

You can also view these lyrics (with comments from other fawmers) here.

[Phrasr] "And we couldn't say it on TV if it wasn't true."

-Akavar (weight loss drug) Commercial