Hurricane Gustav

Well it seems Gustav gave us here at UL Lafayette some days off. Gustav hit us on Monday (Labor Day), September 1. But ULL was closed for Tuesday and Wednesday as well. We are now back at 100% around here on campus.

I did post a couple of the videos I took on YouTube:
www.youtube.com/users/jasonmcneely

I have other videos but not too much worth posting, as most of the time the winds were not much worse than the ones already posted.

Now to watch Ike, and in the mean time, back to the usual research work.

Asking of God

Why are prayers sometimes seemingly unanswered? A verse that caught my attention on this subject is James 4:3

"You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures." NKJV

Seeking things that ultimately are for our own pleasure rather than Gods kingdom could cause God to not answer because God knows what it best. Also Matt 6:33 talks about seeking the kingdom of God as the first priority, and God would take care of your needs.

This reminds me of my recent studying of the book of I Samuel. In the first two chapters, Hannah, wife of Elkanah, prayed for a son, as she was barren. Elkanah had another wife (Peninnah) that bore children. She didnt pray for a child for revenge against Elkanahs other wife (although she could have as she was "provoked" by Peninnah about her inability to have children - I Sam 1:5-7 ). Instead, Hannah asked God for a male child and she promised to dedicate him to God all the days of his life. She asked for something for Gods use and glory not her own. God blessed her with Samuel, and she praised God and followed through on her promise.

And thats Jasons thoughts for today.

Another long absense of blogging..

I noticed its been, again, a long time since writting anything here. Not too many things are new. Still working on the good ole' PhD. Still occasionally teaching the Sunday school class at FBC. I am currently seeing someone who I think has more faith in me than I do in myself.

I have recently wanted to start a hobby in video editing. I have become interested in it after my "Plantie" video experiment. I actually purchased some video editing software (Pinnacle Studio Titanium Plus 10.5 - not too expensive since it is an old version) to try my hand at it. I didnt want the newest one, it was pricier and my computer is too slow. Unfortunately, I realize I lack the time for such a hobby. I have been trying to focus on God and his plans for me, while finishing my PhD. There is little time for me left afterwards. So, I probably will not be doing any video editing (therefore I wasted my money).

Which brings up a good point about using money wisely, which was the lesson I taught today during the SS class. Since everything we have should honor God, was this a wise purchase?

My current research involves the Scalable Extension to the H.264 Video compression standard. I have been reading into bit-depth scalable video coding. At the rate Im going, research will be the end of me.. I dont think I am such a good researcher, so I just need to focus and come up with something and get it done and move on with life.

Defragmenting My Room

I have spent hours "Defragmenting" my room. I had too much junk, and some of my books were being stored in a refrigerator. I finally had time (not really but I had to do this) to buy a bookshelf. But then I realized it would block switches, sockets, and a closet. So I had to pretty much rearrange furniture and dump everything into the floor while I moved stuff around. Maybe I will finish that before bedtime.

I have been researching my family's tree. It is interesting to find records like WWI/WWII draft registration cards signed by my great grandfather.

R is for research, and lately is not a good word to use with me. It is a bad word, but eventually I will graduate. Maybe I can get a big R with a big circle-slash across it on my degree.

Long time no blog

I pratically forgot about this blog until someone asked me about blogging... and in fact I posted a blog on myspace but I made it private and was unable to figure out a way easily make the prefered list.

I really need to get my research in gear! (and not the gear with the R on it)

Yawn

Well here I am again.. and sleepy. It seems some days I feel sleepy and some days I dont. So far my brain is a bit foggy.

I am enjoying fiddling with my new toy .. Hitachi DVD cam, I purchased from a friend who was moving out. So far so good, except for a few kinks in the beginning of getting it to cooperate with my computer. Also, playing movies back on my computer reduces the quality, but it is better once on DVD and on the TV.

I should be starting my somewhat mathematical analysis on the area, delay, etc of my tree structures. Since the simulation results didnt work out as planned, I can do this analysis and then determine what is next.

Vacation Time

After spending a few days in New Orleans working at a conference (ISCAS 2007), I am ready for a break. There was not much time to do anything there... but tomorrow I will be going back to new orleans to bring a friend there and spend some time actually sight seeing. Then I will go home for a week (near new orleans).

I dont like city driving, so I will let my sister drive us in New Orleans. I will let the expert handle that.

And here are the bits of the day:
1001000 1001001 (ASCII)