Category: Blog

I’m Ryan. This site is almost entirely vanity, with a touch of learning tossed in. I live in the Ann Arbor, MI area and work for the University of Michigan (no, I will not be able to help you get tickets). Everything on this site is my opinion and not that of the University. To…

Fastest way to my inbox is through ryan.vis@gmail.com

I’m done with WordPress. After being compromised, again, I’m done. No matter what security extension I install, no matter how automatic the updates, no matter what I tweak, WordPress continues to be compromised. I even went so far as to nuke the install, the database, and the users for both with my host only to…

Yesterday I paid off my last student loan. It took nearly 16 years to do so, a stretch of time that, frankly, is embarrassing. I financed my college education completely on my own; my parents held to the belief (in the mid-90s) that one could still pay their way through college. You couldn’t, there wasn’t…

Chelsea MI’s relevant ordinances regarding removal of snow and ice. Sec. 26-89. – Ice and snow removal. It shall be the duty of the owner or occupant of every parcel of real estate within the city which adjoins a public right-of-way upon which there has been constructed a public sidewalk, to remove any accumulations of…

I’m getting sick of writing these. On January 19, 2014, Myrtle Hulst passed from this Earth. She was 84, 4 months short of her birthday. She is survived by 2 sisters and countless nieces, nephews, grand nieces, grand nephews, and friends. I am one of those grand nephews and Myrt was like a third grandmother…

Lots of good pulls in this Atlantic article, but some highlights: The entirety of Season Six is when Moffat’s fascination for plot twists and open-ended mysteries (in our house, we describe this unfortunate tendency as “plotty-wotty”) took over the show, and the whole product suffered. … As Moffat checked off the boxes, … all I…

I live online. That’s a statement means different things to different people. To people before my generation, that may mean I’ve made a choice disconnect from “real life” and spend it staring at a series of LCD screens. To those within my generation (or neighboring it), it may mean that I’ve adopted the position that…

I was a big fan until this season. And then, after the second episode, I just gave up. I think the inherit conflict in the show’s structure finally got to me. It’s not that the show doesn’t give fans what they want; everyone wants something different that can’t be met. But what is central to…

You, like me, have a Windows 8 machine which has the sounds randomly drop out. Your drivers look fine, everything is up to date, but this annoying thing keeps happening. Fear not, there is a solution, courtesy of Tech Support Forum. For Windows 8, search for and open Sound, click the Communications tab, select “Do…