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Finally a Clean Basement

Published February 11, 2009

After not picking up following far too many projects I finally took the time to give my basement a good straightening up / cleaning.

After working on all too many projects without taking the time to properly clean up my basement, tonight I did so. As can be seen in this photo taken by Marty while we were doing the MMBA website work and waiting for the forum data to migrate, I had a rather large pile of stuff to go through.

None of it was trash, just a lot of it was redundant, spare things which I had to go through, wrap up and sort, and generally find a place for or put back where they had been. I’ve also recently (Sunday) put a new shelving unit in the basement against the far wall (that one on the right), so my bike stuff can be stored down there instead of in the garage. While I don’t mind keeping parts in the garage in the summer, I don’t think it’s the best idea for longer term storage.

I’m just glad this is all straightened up. I feel much, much more comfortable working in a reasonably organized environment where I have room to do things. Now, if I could only get the terribly strong Pro Formula 409 smell off my hands.

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Unseasonably Warm Weather

Published February 11, 2009

My bike in River Bends Park, at the top of the hill leading down to the bridge over the Clinton River, on an unseasonably warm 54°F (12°C) evening. While the snow was rapidly melting, there was quite a bit left, along with lots of ice on paths.

Thanks to the bizarrely, unseasonably, but very welcome warm weather here (54°F / 12°C) I was able to get out on my bike tonight and go for an after-dark ride. Overall the ride went well, except the many places where people failed to clear their section of sidewalk / path resulting in a very bumpy ride over ice. Or, worse was when there was no bumpy ice and I had to fight through 4″ of slush or ride around it on sopping wet grass.

After I made it out to Ryan Road and was heading back I heard my phone make the familiar “new message” sound. It was 7:39pm, and checking it I’d found that I had missed a meeting about some MMBA stuff. At the time I didn’t think I’d be able to make it home in time, but some very hard riding (for me) resulted in my arrival at the meeting place only about an hour after the message arrived.

Still, I am glad I made it out tonight, as tomorrow’s weather will be warm but very rainy, then the forecasts for after that show more typical February weather for here in Michigan: just below freezing, snow, and ice on the roads.

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SDrive NUXX v1.0 PCBs Ordered

Published February 10, 2009

SDrive NUXX v1.0 PCB

Well, that’s that. Last night right before bed I sent off the order for 10 of the SDrive NUXX v1.0 PCBs. With any luck they’ll be here around the end of the month. If these work well I’ll begin taking orders

As mentioned last night I had to make the PCB 3mm larger to best use the case but no adjustment to the buttons was needed. Now it’s time to spend my evenings working on things like the documentation site, figuring out how to handle payments (PayPal? Google Checkout?), and doing non-electronicy things like actually keeping my house clean.

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3mm Larger PCB

Published February 9, 2009

Because the PCB can slide past the bezel I will be able to make the PCB 3mm longer so that it will sit directly against the front and rear panels.

Today I received the enclosures for the SDrive NUXXes and found that I forgot to take into account the 1.5mm thick plastic bezels. This meant that I had to make the PCB 3mm longer, so that it’s now 123mm x 100mm. Now I just have to finish tweaking how far back from the edge of the PCB the tactile switches sit and it should be time to call this v1.0 and order a prototype run.

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Home-made Enchiladas

Published February 9, 2009

Enchiladas which I am eating for lunch, made by Danielle the night before.

Today’s lunch is these enchiladas, which are leftover from those that Danielle made last night. They are fresh corn tortillas, steamed, filled with refried beans, cheese, and fried onion. The refried beans were made fresh, with nitrite-free bacon renderings and onion, and the onions in the enchiladas themselves were fried up in the pan the bacon was rendered in. Mmm. This is really, really good.

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Lagunitas Brewing Company’s Brown Shugga

Published February 8, 2009

Lagunitas Brewing Co's Brown Shugga Ale, poured into an MMBA pint glass. This is nicely hoppy, and has a very obvious brown sugar taste. It's great.

Tonight I’m having a bottle of Lagunitas Brewing Company‘s Brown Shugga Ale. It’s a really brown sugar-tasting, moderately hopped brown ale. It’s also 9.5%.

This is definitely a nice beer at the end of a nice, but productive, day. Danielle made an absolutely wonderful dinner of bean, cheese, and onion enchiladas, complete with freshly made refried beans. She also made the kitchen nicely clean, as I spent lots of time doing laundry almost to completion and beginning to straighten up the basement.

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ProLink + Thermal Paper

Published February 8, 2009

Thermal paper receipts darken in the presence of vapors from ProLink chain lube.

These receipts printed on thermal paper darkened when they were exposed to vapors from ProLink Chain Lube. The receipts are from a few days ago, and after lubricating my chain yesterday I tossed the paper towels wetted with ProLink into the same trash can which held these receipts. Today when taking out the trash I noticed that these receipts had darkened markedly, in interesting patterns. It surprises me that no region containing text was darkened.

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CadSoft EAGLE Manuals

Published February 8, 2009

Every time one acquires a new EAGLE license, CadSoft sends it with a new manual and tutorial.

One of the most frustrating parts of acquiring a new CadSoft EAGLE license is waiting for the license to actually arrive. CadSoft insists on sending them via UPS, along with a full new set of manuals and paperwork. This incurs a $15 shipping charge, plus a 3-5 day wait for it all to arrive. Also, if one is following some upgrade path one ends up with quite a few redundant manuals.

I’ll be taking the 4.1 manuals out for recycling today.

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Nice Day For A Ride

Published February 7, 2009

Nick, Erick, Marty, Kristy, and I went for a ~20 mile ride ride along Metro Parkway today.

Today was such a nice day (~46°F) that I was able to get out for a really nice ride with Nick, Erick, Marty, and Kristy. (I hope I spelled their names right…) We through neighborhoods from downtown Mt. Clemens, over to 16 Mile, out to the Dodge Park area, to the spillway, then back. Total was just over 20 miles, and except for the occasional patches of 4″ deep slush or standing water it was a very nice ride.

After the ride we ended up gorging ourselves at Chicken Shack, then heading over to Dragonmead for some really nice beers. Now I’m home, relaxing, and putzing with some electronics stuff but not really accomplishing anything.

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