[Last Wednesday: 4.5 miles; Thursday; 3+; Saturday: 6 @MoS; Monday:4.5]
When I started this blog my goal was to make a post on every day that I ran. I have fallen sadly behind.
I am scheduled to start working from the office again starting July 6th. Working from home has been a nice change. But I am definitely more focused when at the office.
Recent projects: The WWVB clock is waiting for me to build a shielding enclosure for the computer bits. It turns out that the Teensy microprocessor is spitting out a lot of RF which interferes with the WWVB signal reception. On the phase modulation front I have made no progress.
I purchased a couple of OKdo.com E1 boards recently and have been attempting to learn something about them. A dual-core ARM M33 processor for under $20. It is similar to some of the stuff I run into at work.
I read an article about repurposing old laptop keyboards and screens. So I dug out an ancient IBM Thinkpad which had a wonderful keyboard and I have made some progress in decoding the key matrix. I despise the cheap bluetooth keyboards I am sometimes required to use at work. So my thinking was maybe I could eventually end up with something tolerable. The idea is plausible. But with all of the needed bits it is probably more than I can accomplish on my own. Enclosure/packaging is always an issue.
Similarly I had a Dell laptop which ran but was worthless for any kind of real work. So I took out the screen and bought some bits from ebay/china that repurpose it as a hang-on-the-wall monitor with HDMI port. That turned out rather well. My plan was to have something for the raspberry Pi.
I had started that laptop-screen repurposing project and ordered the parts when someone advertised on-line a free lcd screen which I went and got. It turned out to be a nice LG 27″ monitor without a stand or power brick. Got the power brick replaced and bought a wall mount at Menards so now that is one of my main monitors. I am monitor-rich at the moment.
I was reading an article this morning about the sudden spike in gun purchases. Whenever there is social unrest people rush out to buy guns. I’ve been feeling a bit like that myself recently. Which goes to show that I’ve got my lemming tendencies as much as anybody else. I also saw on a Google news selection that a couple in St. Louis stood conspicuously armed outside their big house in town while marchers went past. Some internet wag commented that they were showing detachment from “their community”. Duh. On another but similar front I have a Facebook friend who was all positive and enthusiastic about the recent protests and riots. He lives in a golf course community, so it is not his 7-11 that will go up in flames and the police probably would respond if he called them.
I saw this scene on a recent run.
