Making, baking, and (un-)breaking things in Southeast Michigan.
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After assembling the first SDrive NUXX v1.1 (Production) PCB and ensuring that it worked as expected I started assembling the other eighteen PCBs. I only managed to get the SD slots and DIP28 sockets fitted before calling it an evening, but it’s coming along nicely. Hopefully by the end of the weekend I’ll have a good bit more done.
It’s really nice to have a final / complete PCB which doesn’t require any jumpers or other hacks to work.
Leave a CommentIt seems that the rocky / rooty trails at Island Lake and Maybury which we rode on Monday took a bit of a toll on me. Yesterday morning my back/neck was a little bit sore, and a bit of research showed that it was likely my trapezius muscle on the right side of my body. Since it wasn’t too sore yesterday I headed out for a paved ride on the Macomb Orchard Trail, which ended up being a bit over 20 miles.
Once back at the car I found that I was a good bit more sore, but just wrote it off as a problem from leaning over the bike for a while. However, when I woke up this morning I found that I can’t really turn my head without a good bit of stiffness and soreness.
I think that this point I just need to stay off my bike for a few days and rest up, then maybe do some elevated leg pushups or something else which will build up these muscles a bit. This is a bit disappointing as today and Friday are forecasted to have really nice biking weather, but that’s just how things go. At least I’ve got other things which I can be working on in the mean time.
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Thanks to Danielle my post-bike ride dinner is chili and cheese tamales from a small place in southwest Detroit, near the train station. These are very, very good.
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Arriving home this evening (after a nice bike ride) I found that fifty-one SDrive NUXX had been delivered. I hope to build up the first one tomorrow or Friday, depending on my schedule.
Now I just have to wait for artwork proofs and then shipping of the metal end panels.
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When I arrived home from work yesterday I found that someone had turned the dirt in my planters (more detail) and removed the roots from last year’s flowers. I think it may have been the lawn care people, as they seem to have cleaned up the leaves left over from autumn.
I’m looking forward to early May so that I can plant some new things. I’m not yet sure what I’ll plant this year, but hopefully it’ll look nice…
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Having today off (Easter Monday Holiday), I ended up heading out to some mountain bike trails with some friends from the MMBA, Bob and John. Starting quite early this morning we took off towards the west side of the Detroit area, and ended up riding Island Lake and Maybury (both loops of each), with a break to eat lunch at Leo’s Coney Island and stop by Trail’s Edge.
Since I’d never ridden either of those trails it was a nice new experience, and I’ll definitely be visiting them in the future. They are both about the same level of technical difficulty that I’m accustomed to, but much longer in length. I imagine that once the weather is a bit nicer (read: warm enough for shorts) they’ll be a whole bunch of fun.
Today wasn’t so nice, necessitating shorts and a jacket and full finger gloves. Since I only have wind/waterproof full finger gloves Bob loaned me his Fox Digit gloves, which worked out great. If I’m needing to buy some for myself I think I’ll get these.
After arriving home at 6:30ish I showered, picked up some fish and chips from Chicken Shack, then watched a bunch of Season 3 of The Office. Now, bed. I’ve got lots of work waiting for me in the morning.
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When I eat a Cadbury Creme Egg I press the foil wrapping into a little stand. This way I can eat the CCE slowly, setting it down between bites, without it spilling.
Also, today feels like a Saturday, which is a good thing. I hope to get lots done around the house.
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Hey, look, it’s all the parts for SDrive NUXXs, except for the PCBs and metal end panels. The parts have been sorted, kits assembled, and all AVRs programmed and labeled. The PCBs should ship on the 16th and the end panels on the 27th.
And yes, that is a belt of SD connectors.
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When I went to get in the car after lunch (to drive to another building) I found that my front bike tire is flat. While I’d found my front tire flat last night, I changed the tube and thought I’d fixed it as it held air all last night and while on the car en route to work. Now I need to investigate further, which likely means a stop at home en route to meeting up with the group I’m riding with. Darn.
Leave a CommentWhenever I start wrapping up a personal project, I start to feel a bit let down. It’s almost as if I enjoy doing the work more than any sense of accomplishment or completion which comes with finishing a project. While the SDrive NUXX project isn’t totally done, as long as I didn’t screw something up, the difficult / interesting work is pretty much done. I’m just waiting for parts to be delivered (all orders have been submitted), then I’ll have some packaging / kitting / assembly / shipping, and it’ll be complete.
At times like this I start to feel around for something to do next, but until I find that I end up feeling a bit lost and useless. It’s not like these little projects give me much purpose in life, but they do at least hold my attention, teach me something, and make things interesting.
I think that tonight I’ll clean up the basement a bit, ensuring that the workspace needed for the aforementioned kitting and assembly is available, and then setting up a workspace for IC programming. Maybe after that I’ll swap out the tires on my bike for something a bit more trail-friendly, as I think that the weather is probably going to break after this weekend. Still, I need to find another big project. Maybe a device which monitors power consumption of USB devices on a per-port basis, or some sort of nifty clock, or something…
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