As of April 1, I’m 21…
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on April 2, 2009
Yesterday was not an especially exciting day, but I did take advantage of my new age.
At about 12:05am an old friend and I made our way to the Library. The Library is a pub on college hill, so no we weren’t going to check out books. We shared a pitcher of beer and caught up on everything that had happened in the past couple of months.
Later at about 5:30 that evening, my roommate and I decided that it was time to go bar hopping, well sort of… We started at Diamond Daves, where I discovered the beauty of something called “Happy Hour” 2 drinks for the price of one… it was awesome, so I had a couple of bud lights. After a couple drinks there, we decided that we should probably be close to campus if we are going to drink anymore, so we drove back to Rider and walked over to the hill, where we enjoyed a beverage in the Other Place and the Library. I would have to say that I enjoy the atmosphere of the Library over the OP. Although I am a little curious as to why they don’t have nearly as many customers as OP, but oh well, thats probably why I like it. Hopefully this weekend I will have the opportunity to explore the rest of College Hill.
IPTV is the future…
Posted by Ryan in Hak5, Personal, Technology on March 27, 2009
For the purpose of this blog, IPTV stands for Internet Protocol Television.
For the past couple of years Internet media has been getting increasingly popular. More and more people are watching television shows and movie via the Internet (both legally and illegally). Some examples are Apple iTunes, Netflix, and xbox marketplace.
There are so many ways for companies to broadcast their media. Netflix uses the xbox 360 and its own set-top box. Apple has iTunes and Apple TV makes it extremely easy to access iTunes via the TV. Most television stations, like ABC, NBC, and Fox, allow you to watch episodes of shows that you may have missed. There is one company that gets how popular Internet broadcasting has gotten and has invested a lot of money in distributing and creating programming just for Internet viewing. Revision3 uses several different mediums of distributing its content. Not only do they distribute through their website, but they also use iTunes, Tivo, PyroTV, Bittorrent, and even more. Revision3 (aka rev3) has produced several IPTV shows including but not limited to:
- Tekzilla
- Systm
- Diggnation
- The Digg Reel
They have also signed a contract to distribute another popular IPTV show Hak.5.
I would highly reccomend checking out Revision3 at their website, revision3.com.
Could internet broadcasting be bad news for Satellite and cable companies? Tell me what you think.
I’ve hit a whole new low… or high… Something like that…
I checked my weight today and it seems that I have accomplished the Sophomore 26. Yes, I have gained 26 pounds since coming to UNI. I know I need to work out more, but it doesn’t always fit into the schedule so I think I need to at least work on my eating habits.
Last summer, I was doing Weight Watchers but stopped for some reason. I’m still not quite sure why. Perhaps lack of support, I don’t know. I would go back to Weight Watchers, but I remember that their site was always buggy and it costs about 17 bucks a month and since I’m a college student, I really don’t need another monthly bill. Am I right?
So I heard of a website called SparkPeople.com. It is a free service to help manage the food that you eat but giving you a total amount of calories, fat, and carbs, that you can eat in one day. It seems a little bit more complicated than WW but its free. So what do I have to lose? My current weight goal is 177 but next March. I think that means I have to lose about a pound per week. I’m hoping that I can double that and reach my goal in half of the time.
Spring Break is Almost Over…
Break is almost over and it went way too fast. It seems like yesterday I was driving home from Cedar Falls. I didn’t get a whole lot done. I celebrated St Patricks Day in Des Moines and deployed the new Friendly Sons of St Patrick website. That was about it. Soon the semester will be over and I will need to find a summer job… I’ll probably end up being my current bosses network slave over the summer. I think I could pull it off… I would only need to drive to Cedar Falls twice a week. Since I can only work at UNI a max of 20 hours per week. I could work 2, 8 hour days and get enough money. I’m kind of looking forward to returning to UNI tomorrow. I don’t know why.
Links
Posted by Ryan in Personal, Site Development on March 18, 2009
I’ve had several comments regarding the use of the Course Links in the side bar. These are current classes that I am enrolled in at the University of Northern Iowa. The main reason for most of the links on this site are for my convenience.
So all of the links in the side bar are there because I go to those sites a lot, need them for work, or need them for class.
Getting a little greener with more web development.
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on March 13, 2009
With St. Patrick’s Day coming, I decided that a new website was in order. Check out the new informational site for the St Patrick’s Day parade in Des Moines, Iowa at http://www.stpatricksdayiowa.com
Warm weather and Cacti… in Iowa?
Posted by Ryan in Personal, Site Development on March 11, 2009
Looking at the weather forecast and it looks like St. Patrick’s Day is going to have a high of 50 and no snow. Thats not even the best part. The warmer weather is supposedly rolling in this Friday with temps in the 40s. Ok, ok, I know I’m not a weather man, but this is great news for us UNI students who finally get to have Spring Break next week.
Other than the weather, I really don’t have any great or important news for today, except I think I have finally finished my page on the installation of Cacti. Alright, most of you are probably going, “What the hell is Cacti?” You normal non-tech people may just want to ignore this.
Cacti is an RRD based monitoring solution. It uses SNMP to collect data from network devices such as computers, switches, routers, etc. and creates graphs based on the data it collects.
So some of you may have already noticed the “Cacti wiki” page and have been wondering, how am I suppose to add info to the wiki about Cacti if I don’t have editing access. Well, if you feel you need to add or change something on the wiki, register with the site and send me an email with what you want to add or change. Then I will make you a Wiki contributor, or if you just want to send me the additions I can add them my self. Registering with RyChannel.com will not mean you will get spammed all the time. I will probably never email you unless you email me first or I have a legit question to ask you about something you have contributed.
Spring break next week!
I am ready for this week to be over. Today I had my third Human Origins test. Thursday I have another Stats quiz, which shouldn’t be too difficult. You can tell that tensions are getting high around here and people are ready for a break.
Next week is also a very important holiday for my family, St. Patricks Day. We will be spending a couple days next week in Des Moines, preparing for the annual St Patricks Day parade. I will most like spend most of that morning on my dads bus (yes my dad owns a bus) in the parade. The weather doesn’t sound like it is going to be very good, from what I hear there is supposed to be snow. For some reason my late grandfather would have wanted it that way. He has been a big part of the St Patricks Day parade for many years.
For more information about the Des Moines St Patricks Day Parade, please visit http://www.geocities.com/stpatricksdayparade2000
The snow is back… greeeeat…
So when I woke up around noon today, it was wet outside and it may have even been raining. But that is really hard to tell when you’re inside.
Like I do every weekend I grabbed my dirty laundry and ran it downstairs to be washed. I came back upstairs (note: my blinds were closed in my room) and watched some television. When I went back out into the hall, I looked down the hall and saw the white stuff falling from the sky through the lounge window. I know if I would have actually paid attention to the weather forecast I wouldn’t be surprised. I went back into my room and this is what I saw out my window.
Cedar Falls
Wednesday, Mar 10
Cloudy
Currently: 39˚F
Feels Like: 39˚ F
Hi: N/A˚, Lo: 35˚
Tonight: 35˚
Sunset: 6:10 PM
Moon Phase: Waning Crescent
weather feed courtesy of weather.com - thanks!