"Abstract" and Introduction

In (mock) accordance with the IEEE written format, I will begin with an abstract:

This blog will contain entries regarding computer science, electrical engineering, and video games from the perspective of an undergraduate senior with a year left of college and way too much time on his hands. The desire to begin this blog was spurred by the enjoyment of other topical blogs, particularly my partner's. My intention at the moment is to simply write consistently.

Enough tounge-in-cheek...I've been meaning to begin a blog for quite some time. Naturally, all the typical excuses for not starting a project came up: no goal, no spare time, no audience. Eventually the answers to each of those came to me.

"No goal." As I thought about my "goal" I decided to write about what I know and enjoy: my majors and video games. By day I'm an undergraduate senior at Texas Tech University dual-majoring in electrical engineering and computer science. By night, I'm practically obsessed with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. In short, I spend an inordinate amount of time looking at LCD screens. Based on this, I decided on not writing about Keynesian economics and about what I do (and love to do) every day.

My secondary goal is to actually keep this blog up. I have a Da Vinci-inspired habit of not completing projects. In fact, there are a couple of single-entry blogs I've started before. Hopefully this won't be a repeat performance.

"No free time." How often do we all use this excuse for something we just really would rather not do? It should really be "I don't want to make free time for it." I can find hours throughout the week to play CoD; hopefully I'll do the same for writing about it. Also, as I should only have a year left of undergrad left, with only about 9 hours of classes each semester, there should be plenty of free time. I would love to just take 18 hours and be done, but our lovely computer science class scheduling prevents this (which I will post/rant about at some point).

"No audience." I'm not the only person with these interests. Unlike cross-stitching, the people with these interests are the ones most likely to discover my blog online. Only as I make more entries and see where it goes will I get regular readers.

Enough hand-waving, here are a few concrete things I intend to talk about:

• GNU/Linux
• e.g.  Making the switch or Putting CS to use
• Small & medium-size hardware projects
• Everyone loves Arduino. I'm also looking into getting an Android phone.
• Call of Duty and Halo
• I'm looking into getting a capture card to make montage and commentary videos.
• Halo Reach Beta! aka Spam RAGs Beta! (RAG=random-a** grenade) 

Happy Hacking!