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Making, baking, and (un-)breaking things in Southeast Michigan.

UK and Washington DC Trip

December 1, 2005


Looking along the Millenium Brige across the Thames
towards St. Paul’s Cathedral.

I’ve suddenly realized that I hadn’t made anything more than a two small posts mentioning that I had photo galleries of my UK trip up. Well, I’m going to make a bit bigger one here, tagging the photo galleries themselves and some specific images.

I’m not going to mention a ton of different images here, only the more notable ones. If you want to see lots of detail, please take a look at the main album from this trip itself (photo gallery retired).

Anyway, here goes:

UK and Washington DC Area (November 2005) (Album) (photo gallery retired):

London (Album) (photo gallery retired):

· My room at the Albert Hotel (hostel).
· Nifty stencil graffiti found along the Thames.
· The boat I took from the Tate: Britian to the Tate: Modern.
· Rachel Whitread’s ‘Embankment’ in the Tate Modern.
· Tate Modern from the Millenium Bridge.
· The London Eye and the Houses of Parliment as seen at night from the Hungerford Bridge.
· Tralfargar Square at night.
· The Canadian War Memorial.
· Inside of the Natural History Museum.
· A rather graphic example of how dirty the air can be in London.

Scotland (Album) (photo gallery retired):

· The road leading out of Waverley Station in Edinburgh.
· Walking into Edinburgh Castle.
· Sunset in Anstruther.
· Me, standing on a sea wall in Anstruther, along the North Sea.
· Some of the ruins of St. Andrews Cathedral.
· John (the person I stayed with in Scotland) and I pointing at a bust of Mary, Queen of Scots in his parents living room.

Wales (Album) (photo gallery retired):

· Robin and Giles.
· Robin and I.
· Giles and Yak as we played some We Love Katamari.
· The bilingual (Welsh & English) sign at the St. Peters Car Park in Carmarthenshine, Wales.
· Taj, the wonderful curry house in Carmarthen.
· Me standing with Giles and Yak in the really nice pub right near their house.

Washington DC (Album) (photo gallery retired):

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (Album) (photo gallery retired):

· SpaceShipOne!
· The crappy pizza I got at the McDonalds at the Museum.
· A German V2.
· Messerschmitt 109.
· Chuck Yeager’s Bell X-1.
· An SS-20 and a Pershing-II.

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (Album):

· Russian-made SA-2 marked for export.
· The Enola Gay.
· A Concorde.
· Looking out of the Observation Tower.
· MiG-17 Fishbed.
· The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is huge.
· Another view of a Concorde.
· The SR-71A seen from above, with the Space Shuttle Enterprise in the distance.

· Outside of the National Museum of the American Indian.
· A hymnal written in Cherokee.
· The US Capitol from near the Botanical Gardens.
· Inside of one of the Metro trains.
· The Washington Monument.
· The Atlantic side of the World War II Memorial.
· The Three Service Men statue, part of The Vietnam Veterens Memorial.
· The Abraham Lincoln statue in the Lincoln Memorial is being worked on.
· Part of the Korean War Veterens Memorial.
· Julia Child’s Kitchen!
· Sunset behind the Washington Monument.
· These guys were drumming on the street.
· One of the Metro stations as I waited for my train.

In Transit (Album) (photo gallery retired):

· The A330 I flew to and from London has a nice game / video on demand / info screen in the back of each seat.
· The Gatwick Express is a nice way to get from Gatwick (LWG) to Victoria Station.
· The rather famous power plant, as seen from the Gatwick Express.
· Train Platform 1 in Cardiff, at 4:55am.
· A mushroom and cheddar baguette which I ate when en route from Victoria Station to Gatwick Airport (LGW).
· Just outside the international arrivals area at Gatwick Airport (LGW).
· Most of Gatwick Airport (LWG) looks like a shopping mall.
· I flew in an aircraft like this from Gatwick (LGW) to Edinburgh (EDI).
· The A330 I flew in back to Detroit.
· My tasty vegetarian meal on the LGW to DTW flight.
· The interesting mobile passanger lounges at Dulles Airport (IAD).

Travel Documents (Album) (photo gallery retired):

· My lengthy train ticket from Edinburgh Waverley to Carmarthen.
· Passes for the London Underground and the Gatwick Express.
· Various boarding passes.
· Tags from seat reservations on various trains.

So, yeah. Lots of pictures… Hopefully you’ll find them interesting.

Oh! Also be sure to check out this video of the guys drumming on plastic buckets and a shopping cart along The Mall in Washington DC. It’s really quite nifty. (H.264, so QT7 is required.)

moved from livejournaltravel

New Car Troubles

November 30, 2005

Both last night and this morning I ran into an interesting problem with my new car: I couldn’t get the key out of the ignition. Whatever part of the ignition causes the key to lock into place was preventing it from being turned back to position 0, or off. Both times I had to start the car, put it into gear, then back out before I could get it out again.

Hrm. :\

I need to keep my eye on this in case it happens again.

automotivemoved from livejournal

Whee!

November 28, 2005


Click for more…

Yes, this is a bit of bragging: I finally got the new car today. And, thus far, I rather like it. The in-dash navigation system / audio / whatever thing is quite nice to use. I don’t understand all the voice commands yet, but it seems good thus far. I just need to finish reading the manuals.

It is raining tonight so I was only able to grab a few photos in the garage (along with a few of the documentation for archival purposes). All of those are available here (photo gallery retired).

I think they are all decent to glance at, but some of the better ones are here:
· 2006 Civic EX Engine Compartment.
· 2006 Civic EX w/ Nav Dashboard as seen from the back seat.
· The wiper blades are really long and move in an interesting pattern.
· The speedometer sits a long ways back from the rest of the instrument cluster.
· 30 / 40 MPG!
· The Honda Navigation System comes with DVDs for both Canada and the US.
· My iPod is already kinda connected. (There is a stuff holder space in the front of the dash which almost perfectly holds the iPod adapter I made and is located directly below the power and aux in connectors.)

So, yeah. This seems pretty nifty thus far. :)

acquired thingsautomotivemoved from livejournal

Honda Music Link iPod Adapter

November 28, 2005

Well well… Looks like I may end up getting one of these instead of the adapter I was thinking of making. I wonder how well it’ll work. Hmm.

Honda and Apple Offer iPod Music Link Accessory
TORRANCE 09/07/2005 —

American Honda announced today its new Honda Music Link iPod(R) adaptor in conjunction with Apple. This Genuine Honda accessory was developed to enable Honda drivers to utilize their iPod directly through the audio system in the all-new, redesigned, 2006 Honda Civic.

Honda Music Link enables consumers with iPods to select their music by artist, album, genre and play list through the Honda Civic’s standard controls on the audio system head unit. In addition, this system is the first of its kind to offer synthesized audio voice feedback when searching through the iPod music library with the vehicle’s audio system controls.

“We are very excited to partner with Apple and offer the Music Link accessory to our Honda consumers,” said Stony Furutani, manager of Honda Accessory Marketing. “The new 2006 Civic features the newest in many technologies, which are further expanded through the addition of the Music Link iPod system.

The Honda Music Link adaptor provides outstanding sound quality while charging the iPod at the same time by a cable conveniently located in the glove compartment. The adapter will be available starting this December exclusively for purchase and installation at Honda dealers. Suggested retail pricing for the Honda Music Link will be approximately $250 plus dealer installation. Honda Music link is backed by a full Honda factory warranty. Consumers should check with Honda dealers for specific restrictions.

Apple’s iPod units are available in the U.S. through the Apple Store(R) at www.apple.com and at selected retailers.

# # #

For more information or downloadable high-resolution images of the Civic and other Honda vehicles, please visit www.hondanews.com. Consumer information is available at www.hondacars.com.

Wow, and this article at Ars Technicia says that it’ll offer voice recognition for browsing. Damn.

acquired thingsautomotivemoved from livejournal

Phase 1: Done

November 27, 2005


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Ahh, phase one of the project to ‘properly’ connect an iPod to a 2006 Honda Civic is done. In short, I built this box and the cable running to the iPod. The box contains a filter to (hopefully) cut down on car engine noise and the break-out to provide the audio signal as two RCA connectors.

Inside of the shell of the iPod connector itself is a 1MΩ resistor which signals to the iPod that it has a car adapter connected so it should pause the iPod when power is disconnected, as this would typically happen when the car is shut off.

For now I’ll use this bundle of hardware to connect the iPod to the new car. It’ll power/charge the iPod, pause it when things are disconnected, and provide audio into the ‘aux in’ connector.

The next phase of the project is to wire the box (or perhaps just the iPod cable) into the car itself, either via factory-compatible connectors or straight hard wiring. My goal is to have the iPod powered from a keyed, filtered accessory line and the line-out to run straight into wherever the aux in connects to. I also want the iPod nicely mounted in a good location, within arm’s reach, and easy to navigate while driving. That kind of fitting (along with the factory-type connectors) I can’t do until I have the vehicle.

But, yeah. At least this much is done.

automotiveelectronicsmaking thingsmoved from livejournal

It Works

November 27, 2005


Click for more…

Well, the damn thing works. I got the connector wired properly, closed it up, and tested it with a 12v supply from the car. The iPod charges, and if it is playing and the power is disconnected, the iPod pauses. Tomorrow I’ll go get the stuffs to enclose the power filter and end-of-iPod-cable junction in a box. I’ll also stick a pair of RCA jacks on the outside of the box so that I can get audio out of it all.

I should have left the DIN5 on the far end of the cable for the time being so that it could have simply been plugged into the project box, but that’s okay.

The end result of this should be a temporary single cable iPod hookup which I can use until I get the car’s wiring figured out, connectors ordered, etc.

Earlier while working on this I became pretty frustrated with myself because after screwing up the first connector I made a second. Everything was going absolutely great until I realized that I’d wired it backwards, mixing up pins 1 and 30. And it was going so well, too. Ah well, at least it’s set for the time being. I’ve already got the RCA panel connectors, so I just need a project box. That shouldn’t be too hard to come across, I hope.

Now, I just wish I was tired. I thought the coffee I grabbed on the way home from ‘s place was a bad idea. It was. I’m nicely awake.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention what a pain it is to solder inside of these connectors. They are 0.6mm pins spaced 0.6mm apart. To make it a bit easier I took to removing unneeded pins from the last connector used, the one that was properly done.

See? Top · Bottom

An easier way to think of it is in regards to mechanical pencil lead. Most mechanical pencils that people use are either 0.5mm or 0.7mm. Most rollerball pens that people use make a 0.7mm wide line. That should give you an idea of what I was working with. Soldering one (or sometimes two wires) to something that small is a bit interesting.

automotiveelectronicsmaking thingsmoved from livejournal

Gur!

November 26, 2005

Guh! Two solder points away from being complete and I screwed this up. I guess I’ll be redoing it another day.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to solder .6mm connections? to wires, a resistor, and a few other components?

Uggh. I’m mad at myself for this.

electronicsmaking thingsmoved from livejournal

No More Music!

November 25, 2005

Well, I just finished removing the head unit and parts used to connect my iPod to it from my car, returning it to the factory stereo. I guess I’ll be listening to CDs for the next few days.

Then it’ll be time to figure out how to properly connect an iPod in the new car. It ought to be interesting, to say the least.

At least I’ve got the old Belkin dock connector / charger / line out thing which I can base the new cable off of. I just wish I had black dock connectors. Ah well.

automotiveelectronicsmoved from livejournal

Three Meals!

November 23, 2005


Baguette w/ Roasted Mushrooms and Cheddar

Except for a depth of field problem and an issue with wrapping the sandwiches, I think they came out pretty good.

For reference, I took a package of ‘baby bella’ mushrooms, tossed them with some olive oil, salt, pepper, and two thinly sliced cloves of garlic, then spread them in a single layer on a tray and roasted for 12 minutes at 450°F. Then the mushrooms were allowed to drain and cool.

Next I sliced a baguette part-way through, lined it with cheddar, filled with mushrooms, cut it into three pieces, and called it done.

I think I’ll be having one of these for dinner along with a light spring mix salad (w/ the dressing shown here (Brianna’s Home Style Real French Vinaigrette)) and a glass of Senorial Sangria-flavored soda.

foodmoved from livejournal