Hey everyone! This is my first ever blog post, so here we go. My name is Brahm Rifino and I’m currently a student at Oregon State University. I live in Eugene, Oregon which is about an hour’s drive south of OSU’s campus. I have grown up in the pacific northwest my entire life. Born in Eugene, Or and then spent my younger years growing up in Seattle, Washington. Since then I’ve moved back to Eugene where I went to the University of Oregon after high school. I dropped out after about a year and a half at the UO, because I just wasn’t focused enough to make it work. During my time away from school I’ve been lucky enough to travel to many wonderful places. One of my favorite countries that I visited was Costa Rica, spending 3 weeks exploring the country and all that it has to offer.
I was also adventurous enough to live and work in Skagway, Alaska for 6 months during the spring and summer tourism seasons. Alaska was beautiful and big, everything seemed big and vast. From viewing glaciers from my porch, almost getting attacked by a raven (they are massive birds), watching the northern lights, days where the sunlight was basically out for 24 hours, eating the freshest salmon and crab, and more. Alaska is incredible. Since then I’ve been a professional auto technician aka a mechanic for over a decade, working locally in Eugene while completing the CS curriculum.
It was when the pandemic started that I had a lot of time to think about life and where I was going. As I think many of us did during that time. I decided to return to school fall of 2020, attending Lane Community College with the idea of majoring in computer science. We were taught in C++ which was basically my first time ever programming. It was hard and challenging, and well, still is in many respects. Since finishing at LCC I have been taking classes at OSU. Most of the classes have been online through the Ecampus program. Though this fall I am commuting to OSU for some in person classes.
For my senior project my partner and I will be developing and working on the Embedded System Digital Audio Loop Station. This project blends hardware and software. I’ve always loved building and troubleshooting my own machines. So working hands on with hardware is definitely something that I like and am excited for. I absolutely love music, so being able to learn about audio processing and the software that it requires should be a great and fun learning experience.
Outside of school and work I love to play disc golf, watch sports (mostly football and basketball), get outside, spend time with friends, playing ultimate frisbee and basketball when I can, and exploring new and old passions. While much of this blog will be about my senior project I hope to share some of my adventures here in Oregon.
