To those of you who have owned the first few generations of Apple portable devices, you’d be familiar with the image above. If you recall winding your thumb in a circular motion to navigate through the menus, you’d stumble upon two or three simple games (depending on which generation you had) that would momentarily abstract your boredom.

The game depicted in the picture above is called Bricks and I found some background info of what I’m assuming made Apple incorporate it in its devices. The excerpt is from my favorite biographer and I highly recommend reading his literature as well as the following:

One day in the late summer of 1975, Nolan Bushnell [founder of Atari and, um, Chuck E. Cheese’s], defying the prevailing wisdom that paddle games were over, decided to develop a single-player version of Pong; instead of competing against an opponent, the player would volley the ball...

Alright, so after a brief recovery from a hectic finals week, I’ve returned to my dusty blog and compiled a list of goals that I have set for this summer.

First and foremost, I needed to do some catching up with my curriculum so I didn’t have anything too crazy planned out due to summer school. I’ve also decided to hold off my part-time job at BJ’s to abstract some time on weekends to work on these goals. Ultimately, what I wish to accomplish is to build a repository of skill sets and personal projects that would be applicable to my endeavors of being a software engineer.

Here’s a general list (in no particular order):

• Obtain proficiency in JavaScript, HTML5 and JS frameworks (either AngularJS or jQuery).
• Work out weekly problem sets and implement them via C/JS.
• Start a GitHub repository and have at least 3 working projects by summer’s end.

As of now I have some proficiency in C...

Alas, four shades darker and a much-deserved body cleanse thereafter (aka shower), I can readily compile my thoughts on what has been set as the best weekend of my life. The world renowned arts and music festival has yet to disappoint in its 15 years of glory on Coachella Valley (just ask the internet). But seriously, who wouldn’t want to bask in an ambiance where actions, good or bad, are unquestioned and supported with two colloquial words in which you shrug your shoulders and proclaim in nonchalance:

IT’S COACHELLA

Other than the fact that my phone attempted multiple suicides as soon as I took it off ‘Airplane mode’ or realizing that I am a (mostly) hairless mammal that isn’t quite adapted to the desert climate without sufficient layers, the festival grounds have blessed me with a truly impeccable experience. I can’t think of anywhere else in the world where you are warmly...

Let’s fill in my shoes for a moment. It’s early Monday morning and you’re on the shuttle to campus. When you get off, it’s a good 10-15 minute walk to your lab. The university is bustling with a myriad of people walking in the midst of your peripherals. For once, you cut the concrete social media stare down with your smartphone and you make a brief observation. What do you notice? Headphones. What about them? They’re on everyone. Teachers and students alike are glued to these buds that dangle from your ears as if it were surgically attached and only music would be your life-dependent prescription.

Isn’t it beautiful? Music is literally life. Now how about we take a break from it? As a zealous music devotee, it may seem paradoxically odd to advocate such a blatant statement as to put music aside. It’s preposterous really. Music is life, right? Well, not so much...

Well, at UTSA it is. (National Engineers Week was actually the full 3rd week of February). Nonetheless, that shouldn’t hinder us in the slightest bit from marveling at the prestigious seed of innovation that these elegant minds have ubiquitously planted in our soil of life. Take a good look around. Ask yourself: “What can be better?” Now, hold that thought for a brief moment because in honor of this week and my future profession, I dedicate this post to these reputable innovators. In tandem, I will share some insights and goals of my own for when I do tackle on this discipline in the “real world”.

Taking it back to last fall semester, IEEE hosted a seminar featuring a guest speaker who was none other than James Mercier. You’ve probably never heard of him (I surely haven’t at the time), but he is a professional engineer in hydraulics engineering who’s worked for several private...

As they say:

You learn something new everyday.

This adage goes way back to who knows when. Nonetheless, I’ve heard this saying countless times, but do we actually advocate such enlightening words? What I mean is this: do we actually gratify our learning? Do we store this knowledge in a cozy compartment in our memory so that one day we can find some use for it? Better yet: are we willing to spread this empowering idea to others? After all, knowledge is power, right?

I have this gut-wrenching feeling that a good chunk of us seem to let go of a huge part of the life experience that is appreciative learning. We don’t take enough time out of the day to fixate a brief moment of self-reflection on the things we learn. It’s an abomination. We should be passionate to learn about anything and everything from the infinitesimal to the infinite. There’s just so much out there that we...

I’m not one to brag, but I’d definitely say I have a quintessential taste for music. Need some convincing? My ears are cohesively bounded to the exorbitant genres that personify our culture and I am constantly fascinated by the talent of these musical aficionados that persistently toy with our every emotion. (It’s a little mind boggling if you actually think about it for a second.)

However, I’m a little ‘malnourished’ in experiencing the thrill of music festivals. I believe a definitive feeling of freedom can easily be captured through these brief weekends of infinite good vibes. It should be everyone’s priority to sacrifice a few days to plunge into a realm where there are no strangers and your ears are your eyes. Let loose. Get weird. Be unforgettable. For this reason, I cannot begin to comprehend my paramount anticipation for Coachella this year. Even though I have no...

I guess there’s no other way to start a personal blog than to actually blog so here it goes:

I’m Bryan and I am an undergraduate student at the University of Texas San Antonio pursuing a degree in computer engineering with a minor in mathematics. I have a passion for science and how it beautifully encapsulates our everyday living. I love learning about intricate patterns in mathematics. I thrive off of innovation, especially that of today’s technological breakthroughs. I’m not much of a sports enthusiast, however I do enjoy competitive gaming and soccer. I’m slowly making reading a sixth sense and I hope to make writing second nature to breathing. I’m deteriorating my sense of hearing due to my unbounded lust for music. I’ve grown accustomed to keeping things to myself so maybe this will be a mere ice breaker. I’m a contemporary millennial college student and as a result, I’m...