(no subject)
Okay, I need to get in the habit of blogging more often, so here's a mid-week update.
* Felt kinda sad after my update on tuesday, so I headed over to see Alec and Vicky. Had a good chat with Alec which somehow made me feel a lot better. IDK if it's his relaxed philosophy or that been-there-done-that-still-survived state but sometimes it really cheers me up.
* Alec is suggesting I make some kind of vivarium-warming system, Vicky is suggesting I make tortoise tables, both to get some money. Maybe it's this questioning belief in me that does it, IDK. Both sound like fun, though! Got some ideas - a vivarium control system running on a raspberry pi (or similar), some open-source software I'll write (BSD license perhaps?) and some sensor nodes I can make available as plans, or as finished products. Definite food for thought.
* Fixed up an old mini-fridge I had lying in my 'broken and needs fixing' pile. I've had it years and it was a gift from my grandmother, but the fan in it seized up a few years back - easy fix, but I've had no use for a mini-fridge, so it's just really sat there. Then mum mentioned she wanted a mini-fridge for her office, so yay! I got that fixed up, cleaned up, and she's a happy bunny.
* Katawa Shoujo - that japnese interactive-novel or whatever - is awesome. I've played through three of the five possible story arcs and some of them are gut-wrenchingly romantically written. So lovely! I think I may be in the process of becoming one of those super-nerdy japanese-wannabes. I hope not!
* I was using a multiplug the other day which has a few LEDs on it to indicate how much power connected appliances are using. I'd forgotten all about it until Alec asked if it was a fancy network-connected one, which it isn't. I've been wanting to buy a fancy network-connected one for a few months, and it wouldn't be thaaat much work (a day or four?) to hack the multiplug to make its data available over the network. I feel a bit of an idiot for not thinking of this! I'll just pop the lid, add some optoisolators, take it to a PIC and then out to RS232 or USB or something, then to a PC. It only has like ten LEDs on it, so it's not a great resolution, but it'll be good to put on the air con so I can get alerts if it suddenly stops cooling things (again!!) before everything overheats.
* Tortuga - the worlds most cutesy-wootsy little snuggly shell-dweller - is doing fine AFAICT. I've planted a spider plant in his enclosure, which should give him something to nibble on if he gets bored of what he's got. He's sleeping a lot recently, I think due to the time of year. The enclosure is kept warm enough that he won't hibernate but he's definitely chilling out with some Z's, waking up andmoving around every day or two a little. Hopefully he'll wake up in a few weeks and be all hungry and find a big spider plant to devour! <3 so cuuuute.
* Doing alright. Forging onward. Off out clubbing with stu tonight so that should be fun. Haven't been out for far, far, too long. I'll see how well my new bald bonce fairs for moshing.
* Felt kinda sad after my update on tuesday, so I headed over to see Alec and Vicky. Had a good chat with Alec which somehow made me feel a lot better. IDK if it's his relaxed philosophy or that been-there-done-that-still-survived state but sometimes it really cheers me up.
* Alec is suggesting I make some kind of vivarium-warming system, Vicky is suggesting I make tortoise tables, both to get some money. Maybe it's this questioning belief in me that does it, IDK. Both sound like fun, though! Got some ideas - a vivarium control system running on a raspberry pi (or similar), some open-source software I'll write (BSD license perhaps?) and some sensor nodes I can make available as plans, or as finished products. Definite food for thought.
* Fixed up an old mini-fridge I had lying in my 'broken and needs fixing' pile. I've had it years and it was a gift from my grandmother, but the fan in it seized up a few years back - easy fix, but I've had no use for a mini-fridge, so it's just really sat there. Then mum mentioned she wanted a mini-fridge for her office, so yay! I got that fixed up, cleaned up, and she's a happy bunny.
* Katawa Shoujo - that japnese interactive-novel or whatever - is awesome. I've played through three of the five possible story arcs and some of them are gut-wrenchingly romantically written. So lovely! I think I may be in the process of becoming one of those super-nerdy japanese-wannabes. I hope not!
* I was using a multiplug the other day which has a few LEDs on it to indicate how much power connected appliances are using. I'd forgotten all about it until Alec asked if it was a fancy network-connected one, which it isn't. I've been wanting to buy a fancy network-connected one for a few months, and it wouldn't be thaaat much work (a day or four?) to hack the multiplug to make its data available over the network. I feel a bit of an idiot for not thinking of this! I'll just pop the lid, add some optoisolators, take it to a PIC and then out to RS232 or USB or something, then to a PC. It only has like ten LEDs on it, so it's not a great resolution, but it'll be good to put on the air con so I can get alerts if it suddenly stops cooling things (again!!) before everything overheats.
* Tortuga - the worlds most cutesy-wootsy little snuggly shell-dweller - is doing fine AFAICT. I've planted a spider plant in his enclosure, which should give him something to nibble on if he gets bored of what he's got. He's sleeping a lot recently, I think due to the time of year. The enclosure is kept warm enough that he won't hibernate but he's definitely chilling out with some Z's, waking up andmoving around every day or two a little. Hopefully he'll wake up in a few weeks and be all hungry and find a big spider plant to devour! <3 so cuuuute.
* Doing alright. Forging onward. Off out clubbing with stu tonight so that should be fun. Haven't been out for far, far, too long. I'll see how well my new bald bonce fairs for moshing.