Category: Me

Intel Edison Project

I attend GlueCon this year, and in our swag bag we were given an Intel Edison chip and mini breakout board.

I have been thinking about what I wanted to do with this thing. Sadly with the mini-breakout board you can’t even do the simple blinking led test. However, you could set up a web server to test things out, or just write some code to trigger it to do something.

Most of the ideas of what I wanted to do are turning out to be too complex, or just not realistic. I really wanted to throw RFID tags on the dogs and have a sensor that would track every time they went outside, and maybe even what the weather was like, if it was light or dark out. Etc. Unfortunately the tags and reader just don’t have enough range.

Then I wanted to be notified every time the doorbell rang, there are some examples of this out there. And frankly other than it being a data point in my life it isn’t really useful.

As I sit here typing this in my bedroom, I realize it is easily 5 or more degrees warmer up here than the lower levels of our home. We have a Nest thermostat, which has APIs. At first I will just data gather and maybe fire off something that would be the equivalent of triggering the Nest to do something to make sure I have a solid working platform.

I’ll follow up as I progress. I need to acquire some parts.

Project Electrilope – Day 3

The Clean Republic Hill Topper kit arrived, the packing of the parts was not great. However nothing appears to be damaged.

Install was pretty simple, the right side of the front fork was a little stubborn but it went into place. I ordered some quick releases and used those for the install.

Since the plan for today was a test fit and test ride I didn’t exactly take my time routing the wires, but the rear rack I recently added was perfect for the battery.

Test ride was great, I will need to work on the position of the button for engaging the motor. Our next step will be testing it on Renee’s bike to ensure she likes it as well so we can decide if we want a second.

The nice thing, is you can tell it’s enough to let you be lazy here and there if you need to be, but otherwise it really is to just assist you and that’s what we want. We still want to get the health benefits of riding, but this should help with my physical limitation.

Tap, tap….is this thing on?

This seems to be the blog that time forgot, or Jay forgot. I am lightly dusting it off. I have a few projects coming up that I think I want to document and I prefer this format over Facebook or other places where I can’t really control the format.

Since I am like 2 years behind on updates, for those that aren’t connected with me elsewhere. Still working for Sympoz/Craftsy. It’s been a great three years so far. Keeps me very busy, hence the lack of time to be able to sit and write out thoughts. We now have about 200 employees, I think there were about 10 of us when I started.

We’ve had to deal with losses in the family the last few years, while mourning comes in all forms, I didn’t feel compelled to update my blog with it and my usual ringing in the new year posts didn’t feel right. You grow up thinking these people will always be with you, but the reality is that’s not true. So always take the time to spend a few extra moments, or make that phone call to someone you care about.

Most people know I am a car nut. Last year I picked up a 2013 Subaru BRZ. It’s a lot of fun. We drove it to Michigan last year for my cousin Katie’s wedding. I still need to sell my Audi…if you’re interested. 😀

Also, last year we adopted another dog, Bella. We have no idea what she is. Best guess currently is a flat coat retriever mix. She is a sweetheart, she is huge, and she is a little shy. She had a rough time before she met us. Kona is still as awesome as ever, much more mellow than ever too. Getting a little grey here and there, but so am I.

Hopefully I’ll be adding more content soon, mostly project based stuff. Whether it’s cars, house or whatnot. Of course, chances are 2 years from now I’ll be like, huh, I totally haven’t posted anything in two years.

So long 2011!

Second post for the year, woot! Been a year full of good and bad, happy to see it end and move on to the next challenge. Working for Sympoz has been fantastic and is one of the best decisions I could have made personally and professionally. The people I get to work with are the best ever and I have learned so much more in 11 months than I did in the previous 8 years at my former job. Granted without the knowledge I gained in those 8 years I wouldn’t have been in a position to be where I am now.

This has been by far the busiest year of my life with work and other goals. I graduated from college finally, it took a really long time, but I always wanted to get it done and it’s D-O-N-E DONE! I do wish I had finished years ago, but better late than never right? Diploma is of course just sitting on my desk here at home, still in it’s protective cover. Maybe I should add to my todo list framing that puppy.

Speaking of college, on October 13, 2011 little Elvis passed away. He was 17. He came into my life as a tiny kitten that could curl up in the palm of my hand and sleep when I was going to school at CU Boulder. Elvis witnessed many changes in my life, lived at 5 different addresses with me and left behind a legacy of science test questions at Prairie Middle School thanks to Chad. It’s been a hard adjustment without him, when JJ passed away 4 years ago we still had a cat so the routine was still in place. Now we are cat free so those routines ended and it was tough to make those adjustments.

Kona-Bob is still crazy as ever, each year he mellows out a little more. He had trouble with Elvis passing away as well, but has come around and enjoys being the sole center of attention around the house.

Took a nice vacation in late Summer, spent a day in Vegas then a week in California with family. Rode the 100K ft ride again this year with Andrew, needed a shortcut this year as I just didn’t have it in me to do the full route. Had to skip RMIHR (aka the Scout show) because of the California trip, hope to make it next Summer. Put in ten days of skiing last season, which were some of the best ski days I have had in a long time. New skis help!

As I sit here fending off this end of year cold, I look forward to celebrating the new year and as always seeing what the future holds. Here’s to the new year! Considering the world is supposed to end next December, do something you’ve always said you’d do but never did. If you’ve done it all, try something new, or help someone else accomplish something great. Lastly, be good to yourself and the people around you.

What happened to 2010? Oh hai 2011!

I don’t seem to “blog” much these days, I think I had like 3 posts total for 2010 and 2011 comes with some changes.

Wrapping up 2010, well it was a very busy year. My entire Summer (for the most part) was dedicated to a project at work and I watched 2 months go by at the blink of an eye. It was a good experience and we built some cool stuff.  While stressful I am always willing to do that for a project I think has potential and knowing if it fails that some good will still come from it.

I did have the opportunity to squeeze in a few things during that busy time, went to RMIHR again and completed my first FULL 100,000ft motorcycle ride. It’s a change in vertical feet, worked out to be like 500 miles I think. Pretty grueling, looking forward to the 2011 ride. We also attended my sister’s wedding in Vail, was a beautiful ceremony and a great time! Packed in there as well was a trip to Vegas, only one trip in 2010 :(.

In October we headed out to my cousin’s wedding in Texas. My car rolled 200K miles, we got to hang out in Ft. Worth, see lots of family. The wedding was wonderful and plenty of fun. We also checked out another cousin’s restaurant/bar called Magnolia Motor Lounge. If you are in the DFW area you must visit and you must have chicken fried bacon.

Around Christmas we got the new Samsung Google Nexus S. Slick phone, leaps and bounds better than my old HTC G1. It’s been hard adjusting to having no LED notification lights. I instead annoy those around me with audible tones. I am trying to find like a Giraffe screaming or something to really make it stand out.

What’s next? The big change for 2011 is…..I decided to leave my position at ServiceMagic after almost 8.5 years. It has been a difficult decision, but in the end it is time for me to try something a little different. I will be moving over to a small start up in Denver called Sympoz. The opportunity is a good fit for my career goals.

Though I haven’t promoted it much only because I seem to jinx myself each time I have tried this in the past. I will be accomplishing a life long goal of getting my degree! Holy crap it’s been a long time, but I am getting it done and I look forward to staying out of a classroom for a little while. In about 4.5 months I should be all done!

I have no idea if anyone reads this anymore, but if you do, well that’s what’s been going on for about the last 7 months. 🙂