A few years ago, I got tired of a toaster that didn’t bother popping up before the toast was charcoal, so I got on-line and ordered a commercial-grade toaster from some restaurant supply store. Based on the presumption that restaurants couldn’t afford to have a toaster that didn’t work right, I hoped to have a reliable appliance well into the future. Unfortunately, that hope was unfounded. Within two years, the toaster quit working. You could hold the handle down and the heating elements would do their thing, but it wouldn’t stay down.
In the ham radio community, homebrewing is a term used to describe making your own radio gear. For most hams, this doesn’t go much beyond building and tuning an antenna out of copper pipe or wire, but I’m not really your average ham. For one, I am almost never on the air. That said, as I’ve spent more time recently reconnecting with my roots as an Electrical Engineer, I’ve opted to use my license as an excuse to play around with ideas.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about a project I’ve been working on that uses a raspberry pi to mimic a sunrise as a sort of alternative to an alarm clock (https://www.diligent5.org/?p=1849) . It’s generated a rather long list of learning experiences including things like the timing issues I wrote about previously. After thinking about it, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to document a few of them.
First, debouncing switches can be easy or hard… If you’re as dumb as me and want to set the system up to discriminate between long button presses, short button presses, and … Read the rest
This fourth of July we were invited for a second year in a row to go with friends to their family reunion at the family’s farm/ranch outside Grants, New Mexico. I have to say that this family represents the kind of accepting and down right Christian people I think the world needs more of. Let me explain.
Many years ago, when the patriarch and matriarch were young veterinarians just out of school, they landed in this small town west of Albuquerque and set up shop – the husband dealing with large animals, and the wife handling the small ones. As … Read the rest
My family didn’t take a lot of what some would consider vacations when I was a kid. An annual trip camping for a few days in the nearby mountains was about all we managed most years. There were also times when we packed up to go somewhere more exotic like a national park, or to visit relatives far away. Among the memories of these trips I have shadows of memories where my parents were stressing about them — both before and during. I sometimes think a lot of the stress was financial, but the root cause is somewhat immaterial. The … Read the rest
Stop, I'm told, and smell a rose.
Pause and take a break.
So I comply.
The smell offends my nose.
Why don't you do what others do?
I'm asked without words.
But I'm not them.
Must I pretend to be like you?
What's wrong with loving work?
Both the process and results?
Rest is wearying.
But labor refreshes and refuels.
Since we moved back into a city and left behind a mostly rural life I’ve had to adjust my hobbies to the new environment. I don’t spend much time planting fence posts, the only animal I take care of now is an old and grouchy dog, I don’t have old or worn out farm equipment to rebuild or repair, can mow my lawn with a weed whacker, and couldn’t fit a car in the garage to work on it if I had to. This has been a hard transition, but it has given me an excuse to reengage with several … Read the rest
I'm told it'd be better and cost less,
If I hired the experts to do it.
They reason true.
I know.
My time's too costly for stuff like this,
I should just pay someone else.
Again, they're right.
I know.
But money and time aren't the point,
I do it myself 'cause I can.
Joy has value.
I know.
Isaac was preparing for a campout with the young men from church a couple of weeks ago when Michael asked when I could take him camping. The weather has been mostly cooperating, so I told him we’d go in two weeks if the weather cooperated. Two weeks went by and the weather was fine, so we packed up the truck and headed to an area just outside the Ojito wilderness.
We found a place just off the road and made a fine camp for the night. After setting up camp, the boys and the dog explored a deep arroyo nearby … Read the rest
