Great news at the post office! In the picture are an Arduino Duemilanove microcontroller board, a Basic Stamp based microcontroller board (pin-compatible with the Arduino), a lithium battery pack that can power either of them, and a tiny full color OLED touch screen interface that will attach to either (from Liquidware). I’ve also got my eyes on this TV-out shield for future projects — although I sort of think the YBox2 would be more fun. And while I’m in “I want” mode, I’d also love a Peggy2.
I’ve been doing a little bit of work on my submarine (the progress of which you can see at DIYsubmarine.com) — my very small, simple sub, which is nothing compared to more impressive home jobs like Peter Madsen’s KRAKA — but am thinking that this weekend I will take a quick break and build a small boat. I’m thinking of whipping together a Mini Max (that link will give you plans that you can download — this one contains a video) or something similar. I really like the tiny little power boats that can built from plans with a couple sheets of plywood and a weekend’s worth of spare time. The video below is a Mini Most (the plans are on that same site I linked earlier — and here’s another site with free classic boat plans), which is also high on my to-build list, but I really think I’ll quickly knock out the Mini Max because it’s so quick-n-easy… it was advertised as having a build cost of $20 when it was first designed.
It’s really nice having this big space… Other than my back yard at my old house at Queen and Bathurst, I haven’t had a real workspace since I lived on my childhood farm.
Nefarious and I finished Ozma of Oz and tomorrow will set out upon a new book, assuming she’s not too tired and cranky — the guys in the studio next to us, who are in a not-particularly-exciting hardcore band are jamming extremely loudly, so she gets to stay up a little later than usual. We briefly stopped in so Nefarious could see what was going on and so we could find out how late they’d be playing, and as soon as we got home she dragged out my guitar and started copying their antics.
My next door neighbor has a pitbull puppy that barks non-stop when they’re not home — the near constant barking reminds me of when I lived in Mexico. I’m sure it doesn’t help that his girlfriend is inordinately violent with the dog. Of course, when they are home, he and his girlfriend scream loudly at each other and occasionally throw things. Stay classy, superintendent! Still, it’s leagues better than the revolting mega-smoker old man that used to be our neighbor.
We all had a nice time today at the baby shower, each (Nefarious included) seeing lots of old friends in good cheer. And I got to amuse myself by poking holes in a couple “IT’S A GIRL!” helium balloons and making Nefarious and my voices squeaky (if only they had been sodium hexafluoride balloons — I really want to try that).
Anika and Nefarious of course loved competing to be the best gift delivery girl.
