Weather Station Project Overview
I’m not sure exactly when I became interested in building a weather station. It was at least year or two ago… I remember seeing the Project Curacao 2 post on...
Posts by Year
2019
2018
Nui (IR Volume Controller)
Nui is an IR controlled volume controller for analog audio. It sits between your audio source and speakers and can amplify or reduce the volume using IR comm...
2016
(Self-funded) Sabbatical
As you might, or might not have, heard, I left my last job in May. It wasn’t an easy choice., but after thinking about it for a very long time, I realized I ...
Driving Analog Gauges with DAC
A few years ago, I bought a couple of these analog gauges(galvanometers) at the electronics flea market. Like many other things I buy, they ended up in a box...
Mojo v3 (Xilinx Spartan 6) FPGA Development on OSX
What is this? These are instructions for getting the Xilinx tools up and running on OSX to work with the Embedded Micro Mojo v3 FPGA development board.
2015
Portable Flux Capacitor
This year’s work holiday party was Back to the Future themed. I didn’t have any good costume ideas, so with a week to go, I decided to build a portable flux ...
Laser Turret Project v2 - Part 1 - Overview
After last years DEFCONBOTS competition, I decided to try something completely different. (Check out last year’s robot.) Having to move the entire turret/cam...
2014
Laser Turret Project - Mechanical
The last turret update (with actual content) happened back in February. I continued working on it through August, taking it both to Maker Faire and DEFCON. I...
Switch to Jekyll
I just switched to using Jekyll instead of Wordpress for this site. I started hosting it on a VPS and don’t want to have to deal with all the apache/php/mysq...
Maker Faire 2014
I’m still recovering from Maker Faire last weekend. Here’s a quick video about the laser shooting gallery we set up. The laser turret was there as well,...
Laser Turret Progress
Over the past month, I’ve been working on a laser turret for the DefconBots autonomous robot competition this Summer. I entered the same competition back in ...
Using BusBlaster + openOCD on OSX Mavericks
I’ve been using the Dangerous Prototypes Bus Blaster along with openOCD to program/debug my LPC1769 microcontroller. It’s been a while since I did anything, ...
2013
Skype Video Message Exporter
A few days ago, I found out that you can send video messages to people via Skype. Someone asked me if I knew of a way to export them from Skype. (That way yo...
Kinesis Freestyle 2 Keyboard ‘Mod’ (to Fix Media Keys)
Soon after I bought my Kinesis Freestyle 2 Keyboard, I noticed that the media keys (next/previous song) did not work with Spotify on OSX. The strange part is...
Debugging ARM Cortex-M3 Devices with GDB and openOCD
After getting the gcc-arm compiler working with the mbed, I decided to take a look at my LPCXpresso LPC1769 development board. The mbed is really easy to pro...
GCC-ARM for Cortex-M3 on Ubuntu
Don’t want to read though this post? Just want the code, go get it from my github repo!
Automation Progress - Light Alarm and Remote
If you haven’t heard about my ‘home automation’ project, you should probably read this first.
Beginnings of Home(ok, apartment) Automation
I’ve been neglecting my projects for a while, but I finally decided to stop being lazy and started working on them again. Several of my old posts deal with m...
2012
Biking to SFO
I recently found out that the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) offers bike parking for up to 14 days. I decided to try it out during the thanksgivin...
PIR Sensor Comparison
I recently started working on a project that might require some Passive Infra-red (PIR) sensors. Sparkfun had two different ones, so I figured I’d try them b...
Wireless Friend Finder!
The Wireless Friend Finder was my project for the Bring-a-Hack dinner after the 2012 Bay Area Maker Faire. I made it in a hurry, so it’s not terribly well do...
New Workbench!
I finally decided to get a dedicated electronics workbench. I had been working on my computer desk until now, but it wasn’t quite working out. The first prob...
Wireless RGB LED Board (Part 2)
I finally managed to make a quick video of the build process for my wireless RGB LED controller. I used two cameras to do a time-lapse of the build. Unfortun...
CC2500 Project (Part 9) - Debugging
I just spent several hours debugging my cc2500 radio libraries. What changed you might ask? Two lines of code…
Wireless RGB LED Board (Part 1)
I’ve been working on my wireless RGB LED boards for a while now. I finally made an all-in-one PCB that includes an msp430, a cc2500 radio module, 3 MOSFETs f...
Migrating Blogger to Wordpress Permalinks
I recently migrated my blog from blogger to WordPress. The migration was extremely easy with the automatic importer in WordPress. The only problem is that ev...
CC2500 Project (Part 8) - Downsizing
I received my PCB’s yesterday (From Laen at dorkbotpdx.org, of course!). I spent last night attempting to solder all the surface mount components (and for th...
CC2500 Project (Part 7) - More Lights and Power Supplies!
Here’s another quick update (with lots of pictures and a video!) I ordered another RGB LED strip from adafruit in order to test how my system works with mult...
Smart Meter Fun (Part 1)
My current apartment has one of those ‘smart’ electric meters that can communicate with the power company directly over the power lines. A few months ago, I ...
Flying Experiments
I managed to go flying last Friday after work. Since no one else was able to come along, I decided to do some experiments with the camera.
CC2500 Project (Part 6) - Reorganizing
This post is mostly about software, so I’ll keep it short.
CC2500 Project (Part 5) – SPI Problem Solved!
So I wrote last week about getting UART working on the MSP430G2533 but having major problems with the SPI interface… I was so frustrated that I caved in and ...
CC2500 Project (Part 4)
I haven’t been working on this project lately, but I finally got back to programming yesterday. I got the MSP430G2533 which has both hardware UART and SPI. T...
2011
CC2500 Project (Part 3)
Here’s an even smaller update!
CC2500 Project (Part 2)
Here is a quick update on the project’s progress.
CC2500 Project (Part 1)
So I’ve started working on another project… This one includes microcontrollers and radios. The “goal” of the project is to have a very cheap 2.4GHz radio mod...
West Texas Thanksgiving
So I had a few days off work for thanksgiving… Most people usually visit their family during that time, but due to a late change of plans, I ended up doing s...
Time-Lapse Experiments
I recently started experimenting some more with time-lapse videos while moving. I bought a suction cup mount for my DSLR and tested it out in my car.
New Toys – Project Updates
I have been working on a few projects recently. Two of them involve having custom PCBs made. I’m currently waiting for them to arrive. In order to prototype ...
Hip MRI!
A few months ago, I found out that my school offers a diving class. I enrolled and was having fun for a few weeks until I messed up an entry off the 3m board...
Slow Motion Roller Derby
I recently purchased a Casio EX-FH100 digital camera. Unlike most other point-and-shoots, this one can do high-speed video. It ranges from regular 720p HD vi...
Projects Update
I’ve decided to actually write about what I’ve been up to in the past few years. Today, I’m going to start with a project from the summer of 2006. I decided ...
2010
Not-so-Quick Update
I still haven’t written about my Svalbard trip. Thankfully, I took some notes while I was there, so I will not forget the important details by the time I do ...
Quick Update!
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Utö Weekend
Near the cottage.
Vacation
It has been two months since I arrived to Finland. I have two vacation days for every working month, so I decided to use them two weeks from now. I’m not re...
Suolijärvi
June 24th
First Week in Tampere
May 29th and 30th
Getting to Finland
Wednesday May 26th
Oops
So I skipped a few days. I’ll get the hang of this eventually…
Still Cold
I woke up this morning to a room temperature of 10C (50F). I think the someone turned off the house heater. Either way, I was not prepared for that. I need t...
Snow!
I woke up this morning to see my car covered with some snow, along with most houses around the area. This is not usual for May 9th. Here’s a picture while...
Mmm Food
Today some friends came over to have some pão de queijo, quesadillas, and other stuff. It was a lot of fun. I went to the Rochester Public Market around 7am ...
Residence Permit
passport
Uneventful Day
My sinus infection hasn’t gone away. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. I think I will find out whether or not I can go to Europe for the summer.In the meantim...
Helicopter Ride
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Contemporary Music
So today I had my first encounter with contemporary (1900-now) music. It was pretty cool. I have never heard music like that, it was just piano, violin, and ...
Remote Camera Trigger
I made a remote trigger using an MCT6 Optocoupler, some buttons, LED’s, and 2.5mm stereo jack.This will hopefully be able to connect to a microcontroller to ...
2009
I’m Back!
It seems that I am not very good at updating this thing unless I am traveling.
2008
It’s been almost a year…
…since I started this blog. The first post here is from May 11, 2007.
About this…
It’s almost been a year since I set up this blog. I kind of stopped writing after I arrived from Russia. So far I have mostly been doing schoolwork and thing...
2007
Update
Ok…. So I haven’t written in a while.
First Days of School
Yesterday (Monday) was not too bad. I started by going to Physics class at 8am. I then got back to the apartment to figure out what I had or didn’t have. I w...
I’m Back
Ok, so I finally have some time to write this thing. I realize that if I try to write what happened the last two weeks in detail, I will never finish, so her...
Quick Update
I haven’t forgotten about the blog.
Last Day in Russia
Today I took a train to St. Petersburg. I left around 8am and arrived around 11:30am.
Last Day in Novgorod
Yesterday was my last day of work. Other than that, all I did was buy a few gifts for people.
August 15
Sorry for not posting as often as before, I have been quite busy over the last few days. I spent some time yesterday getting my reservation for a hotel in St...
Less Work
Today I showed up to work only to find out there was no new group of students. I was really looking forward to meeting new people. Since only the supervisors...
Last Full Sunday
Today I woke up fairly early, even thought I went to bed late. I spent some time on the computer while the rest of the family woke up. I didn’t really do any...
Dinner with Family
Yesterday I set my alarm to turn on at 8am because on Saturday work starts at 10am. At 7:30am I was woken up my my host mother telling me I was going to miss...
Pictures
Today we found some interesting artifacts at the archaeological dig. I found some sort of carved wood thing, we didn’t know what it was, but they said it wa...
Stupid Fish
Yesterday was not very eventful, except for the stupid fish. I was going through the dirt (wearing my dish washing gloves) and felt a sharp sting on one fing...
Rain = No Work
So it rained a lot on Saturday… It was sunny on Sunday and today. I arrived to work around 8:30am and saw several puddles on the ground. I figured that was n...
Food
Yesterday (Saturday) was pretty uneventful, so I will not wire a blog post for it.
Another Day (I’m out of ideas)
So I didn’t really get much rest last night.After I posted the last blog entry, I was called to the kitchen to have some drinks and snacks.Another guest came...
First Real Day of Work
Today I woke up around 7am as usual. I showered and had breakfast as usual. I went down to the bus stop and almost got into the wrong bus. I forgot I had to ...
Last Day of Class
Today I went to school and took my final exam. I’m not sure how I did, but I don’t think it was bad.After class I went to work and arrived around 12pm. I wor...
More New Friends
This morning I was faced with the same problem as before, I wanted a 21 ruble water bottle but only had a 500 bill. Instead of making the lady have to go get...
New People at Work
After Russian class today, I headed straight to work. I got there around 12:45pm so they told me to come back at 2:30pm. There is an hour and a half break at...
Ok Sunday
Yesterday I forgot to take my allergy suppressing medicine (Claritin) and, as expected, I woke up around 6:15am sneezing and with an itchy nose. I have reall...
Weddings
Today (Saturday) was a very interesting day. I woke up about 10 times from 6am to 9am, when I finally decided to get out of bed. I showered and had breakfast...
Work, Finally!
This morning, the sky was cloudy and the forecast said there was going to be rain throughout the day. I put on my jacket and went to school. After two hours ...
No More Cold Water!
So this morning I woke up and headed to the kitchen to heat up some water for my shower.Once I had it, I headed to the bathroom to shower. Being strange as I...
Uneventful Day
Today was pretty uneventful. We still have no hot water, but this time, I got a small bucket with hot water from the kitchen in order to shower. I shaved and...
Cold Water
So today I woke up as usual and headed to the shower. When I opened the hot water, nothing came out, and I heard this very strange noise coming from the show...
First Day of Work
Today went like most other days, in the morning that is. I woke up, showered, …, and eventually finished history class. After that, I walked to the bus stop ...
Walk in the Park
Today was not very interesting, but it was not very boring either. After I woke up and had breakfast, I did some of my homework for class and decided to go o...
Old Russia
Today I went to a town whose name translates to Old Russia. I think the main reason it is famous is because the house of famous writer, Dostoevsky, is there....
New Friends
Today was awesome. I did the usual in the morning and went to class. After Russian history class we all walked to a local university to meet some students wh...
Laughing at Myself
I don’t usually start laughing in the middle of the street, but on some occasions, I just have to do it.On a normal day, my alarm wakes me up at 6:50am, I sh...
St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg was awesome! I just got back from four days over there, and I am very satisfied with what I saw.
Long Day
I have not had much time to relax since 9am this morning. It feels good to finish the day.I did the usual this morning and got to school around 8:25am. I sat...
(no ideas)
Yesterday wasn’t very interesting so I didn’t feel like writing something. I walked around the Kremlin and that’s pretty much all that is interesting.
I Hate Rain
It has been raining all day, and it’s starting to get annoying. Today I woke up relatively late (for my standards) around 8:30am. I showered, had breakfast, ...
Sleep!
I don’t think I am getting enough sleep. Yesterday I almost didn’t go to talk with the English class because I was taking a nap. I was extremely tired throug...
New Friends!
I am very tired so I won’t write too much…
Another Fun Day
Today was an interesting day. Since it is July 4th, the group of study abroad students wanted to get together and have dinner. I was shown the location of th...
Lucky? I think not.
Today has been a very interesting day. As usual, I woke up around 5:30am, showered, ate breakfast, hung out and left around 8:10am to go to school. In class ...
First Day of Class
Today was my first day of classes. I got about three hours of sleep last night, I woke up around 12 for no reason and couldn’t fall back to sleep. Around 7am...
I’m in Russia!
I haven’t had time to write anything, but I will soon!My host family is awesome, they are all very nice. I will put something more detailed later.
First day in Russia
I flew to NYC on Wednesday and stayed at a friends house. I met a few of her friends, went around the city, and had a lot of fun. On Friday, I took a cab to ...
Early Morning Update
So I woke up around 4am and could not fall asleep. I’m bored.
5 Days Left
On Wednesday I went to get my allergy shots around 12pm then to return some stuff at Circuit City. Later, I went to see the movie Day Watch, which I really e...
One Week Left!
So Saturday was in fact fun. I went to the movies with a few friends and watched Oceans 13. I had already seen it, but this is one of the movies that the sec...
Boring Friday ( and rest of week update)
On, Wednesday my parents left for their trip around Europe. After taking them to the airport around 10, I went to get my allergy shots. It ended up taking ab...
Long(?) Update
So I haven’t posted since Friday, well it was technically Saturday, but whatever. On Saturday I was going to go to a friends house to dinner with my family. ...
Quick summary of the week.
On Tuesday I went to get my wisdom teeth extraction evaluation. Looks like I have one of the worst cases, my wisdom teeth are so badly positioned that taking...
Eh…Monday
Again, I cannot come up with an intelligent title…
First Week of Summer (Part 3 of 3)
So yesterday marked one week of me being in Miami. So far it’s been fun (except for the doctors and stuff) but it looks like it will get better. Friday was a...
First Week of Summer (Part 2 of ?)
So today was an interesting day. In the morning I went to the Mexican consulate to get some papers for my cousin. She needs to transfer her courses taken her...
First Week of Summer (Part 1 of ?)
Well, the first week of summer isn’t quite over yet, but I needed to come up with a title for the post.
One Down, Four to Go!
My first year of college is officially over. This last week of finals was probably one of the worst I have had. Not because of the actual exams, but because ...
Mid-Exam-Week Update
So tomorrow I have my Digital Systems exam at 12:30. I’m supposed to memorize some stuff for the test, hopefully it will come to me in my dreams because I am...
New Phone!
So after almost three years with my Nokia 6800, I finally upgraded to a Samsung BlackJack!I don’t have much time to write, but in summary, the phone is amazi...
Slow Weekend
This weekend wasn’t very eventful. On Saturday I went to a place called Jines to get breakfast with Tom, Gray, and Kevin. I had the Eggs Michael which are “t...