Adventures in Arduino

In my youth, I decided that computers were not for me. This was a decision that likely coincided with my "Victoriana" phase, also known as the time in my life when I saved up my allowance to buy an antique inkwell. I had a quill (and a slate, dear God) to go with that inkwell. Fortunately my parents intervened before I ended up in pinafores and stockings, like a time refugee from Miss Tavistock's Home for Wayward Children, but the damage to my technical capabilities had already been done.

The past 10 months have been my attempt to overcome my technophobia, with mixed results. I mean, if it was still 1994, I think I could now make a pretty bitching webpage. On the other hand, and in the present day, I broke the 3D printer at the workshop when I tried using it. But at least now I have an Arduino.

Arduinos are really neat, open-source microcontrollers. And, as far as I can gather from my obsessive reading of the Make: Magazine blog, their main uses include somewhat creepy robots and the automation of fairly routine actions. Thus, my two-step Arduino Plan: 1. Use it to wind balls of yarn for me, and 2. Power my killbot, who will smite my enemies. But first, I started with a simpler, more manageable project: making it blink my nickname in morse code using an LED. Today, "MARTY MARTY MARTY," tomorrow the world/Vancouver Island.

Schoolday the Thirteenth XII

Sorry about my absence. You know how in horror movies, there's always a moment when the hero/ine thinks the danger is past, and the monster is killed? And they turn around to breathe a sigh of relief, but over their shoulder we see the ghoul sit right back up and make a grab at them, and we know this will be the worst battle. School was kind of like that two weeks ago. I was getting all cocky, thinking I was just about graduated, when I got mired deep into finals. Last week, for example, I had two exams, one take-home exam, and two papers. Friday alone I had one of those exams and one of those papers, and then I foolishly decided to work from one to seven. I went to bed at ten that night.

But all this is in the past. And is boring. Although I had a funny moment Thrusday at school. I was working on my paper on Altman (Short Cuts, bless) in the screening room. I had made a mental note that the headphones weren't plugged in, and that I should do that before playing the movie. Which is why it was super embarassing when, fifteen minutes later, a girl taps me on the shoulder to ask me if I realize they aren't plugged in. This is while I have the TV on at max volume, with the headphones on my ears. And then, to make matters worse, I leave, and then the same girl came out to ask if the cell phone she found was mine. It was. I was tired.

But I have some fun stuff coming up, hopefully. Time for more knitting, reading, assorted cultural activities that keep me from being a hermit. Oh, and I have Twitter now- username Protagitron. I heard that John McCain had it, and I wasn't going to be less plugged-in than someone who's older than Israel. And now I'm not sure what it offers that Facebook doesn't. But I beat Oprah to it, so at least I feel cooler than someone. Suck it, O. (Please don't kill me with all of your money.)