Joule Thief Workshop
The Reuseum held an awesome workshop back in April based on Make’s Joule Thief weekend project. There were over a dozen people in there using space on 5 workbenches, plenty of soldering irons, and plenty of knowledge being passed around. It was nice to see a complete range of skill levels there, from people who are always tinkering with electronics, all the way through people who have never touched an electronic component before. While Gillian was the youngest, there were several younger kids in attendance. In our ready-to-eat society it is encouraging to see the future generation taking an interest in DIY and the sciences in general. Read more
I’m still here, just not online right now
It has been a very busy couple of weeks. Makayla had her cranio surgery on Monday, so between the preparation and doctor appointments last week, and keeping the kids rounded up this week, I haven’t had any extra time to blog or do much of anything online.
Just a quick rundown of what I’ve been up to in my “spare” time, is the weekend before last I attended Boise Code Camp. I didn’t have time to fully prepare my presentation, so I just attended this year rather than presenting a half-finished talk. I attended several sessions on robotics and physical computing, and they all pointed in one form or another to the Arduino microprocessor development platform. It is a very cheap but powerful method to of getting started playing with digital circuitry and interfacing a PC to the physical world. I went ahead and ordered one myself, so expect some projects to start appearing here soon.
Work was spent getting all of my loose ends tied up in preparation of being gone this week. Thank you to everybody who has allowed me to concentrate on my family right now rather than worrying about what is going on at work.
I’ve watched a couple things on the TV after getting home in the evenings from the hospital. I’ve needed something to do while doing nothing, and a good movie is a good way to do it. Mythbusters is back on, as is South Park, and I watched the movie Walking Tall.
Anyway, that is just a quick update on what is going on in my world. Makayla has been cleared to go home today, so as soon as the doctors get done with all the discharge mumbo jumbo we’ll be headed that way.
Goal Update – 10 Weeks + 2 days
Just when I want to get back in gear, I get sick again. I’m finally getting over it now after seeing the doc, so I’m hoping to hit the ground running again quickly.
Goal Update – 9 Weeks
Its been a very trying last couple of weeks. I’m falling behind a little in a couple of areas. Time to put the nose to the grindstone and catch back up.
Socialist at Heart
I decided today that I’m a socialist. This doesn’t mean I want our country to become a socialist state, but I believe in the socialist ideals. The socialism that first comes to mind (government setting everybody’s wages, telling people when and where they can get medical treatment) is not what I am talking about, this is not true socialism. I believe we should all be working in order to advance the society as a whole, not just as individuals. I believe those working toward that goal should be provided basic needs and wants by the very society it is working for. That being said, I understand reality, and I know our society as it is now could never support such a high ideal.
Watermelons at the Whitehouse! How dare you?
I read an article on the Huffington Post where a small town mayor is being raked through the coals over this photoshopped picture he forwarded out depicting the front lawn of the Whitehouse replaced with rows of growing watermelons. The mayor in question claims he didn’t understand the racial reference and did not intend to offend anyone. While I find that hard to believe, I have to wonder why it is a big deal in the first place?
My personal opinion is that we have the “victim” mentality so entrenched into our society that we look for reasons to cry foul rather than
Goal Updates – 8 Weeks
Overall I’m doing well and have almost made it through February and still working on my goals. Since most goals/resolutions are forgotten by Valentine’s Day, the fact that I am still working toward them even if I’m not fully meeting some of them is an accomplishment in itself.
Goal Update – 7 Weeks
Still going strong! I’m tending to slack off a little on my blogging goal though, so I need to be careful there.
Upgrading TV
We’ve filed our taxes and are eagerly awaiting our return so we can apply a majority of it towards our Debt Snowball and take a significant jump towards our goal. We have however decided to take a portion of it and upgrade our TV. We’re currently using a 27″ CRT style that we bought shortly after we got married almost 9 years ago, and it is on its last legs. For the last year we’ve had to keep the Brightness setting turned all the way up to be able to see anything in a semi-dark scene, and its getting worse as time goes on. With as much as we’re using our TV for our indoor entertainment now, we’ve decided its time to make the jump into HDTV land.
Goal Update – 6 Weeks
I’m feeling very good about my progress this week. I was home sick yesterday so I ate more sodium (threw off my weight) and watched more TV than normal, but that is an exception, not the rule. Overall I did well if yesterday is factored out.