Too many passions

When I was laid off for a year in 2009-10, I came to a career crossroad:  Should I keep doing what I do or retrain for IT Security by getting a Master's degree?  I decided though I could finish my career either way, I really enjoy what I've been doing for 30 years.  So shortly after I was hired (where I am now) I had another offer to do the same work on the side.  I've always preferred my time off, but the engineer who wanted me would not take 'no' for an answer.  That would test my 'enjoyment' over the next 7 years that ended last December, but yup, I enjoyed it enough to do it 8 hours a day, then at night another 2-4 more hours plus 2-10 hrs/day on weekends.  That totally confirmed I  have the right job for me.

This year I have more time & energy for hobbies in the evenings.  And without that side job now, I've reignited passions for other interests.  It's funny how everything just came together three weekends ago, all at once.

I've finished my security cam project, but the end result is not working exactly as I envisioned.  I'm going to keep looking in that direction, but it's okay for now.  What I want is a notification on my phone when there's an event.  I can monitor from my phone but I don't get an alert.  The other thing is, I have to clear the memory every day.  This is fine for one camera, but it becomes a pain in the a$$ to maintain more than one camera.

While I was on vacation, I tried to use my timelapse camera but the wiring had broken en transit.  I had an extra Raspberry case from the security cam project, so I repackaged it in a "real case," except that case wasn't exactly working for me.  I had to disassemble the thing every time I collect a timelapse in order to get the pictures off the memory card.  So I modified the case.  It's all good now.  The battery/power had to be repackaged, as it wasn't part of the case.

Then I got my electric unicycle.  This is what I chose to replace my old bicycle because I've never like bicycle seats.  So the first weekend I had it, I couldn't get away from Mom and I caught a cold.  So I took naps to kick the cold as fast as I could.  It was actually more frustrating that I couldn't get away for an hour.  So I decided to wait for my helmet.  I've been able to get one training hour on so far.  I rode along a fence while getting used to it.  This is going to take longer than expected.

This is the third weekend with the unicycle.  It's too hot to get out and practice!  It normally doesn't get over 80F in my home town, so we don't have air conditioning.  I'm so hot, I'm just slothing next to a personal fan. I can't run the ceiling fan because the breeze makes Mom cold.  The other problem is I've been eating too much watermelon.  Watermelon is a diuretic, so it makes me pee alot.  It's probably washing out alot of potassium from my body, so I'm getting leg cramps in the shin & calf areas.  I need these muscles to function on the unicycle.  Meanwhile I've found elbow/arm pads to replace my ol' rollerblade knee/elbow pads that I had to throw out.  I'm going to have to take a few falls to get over the fear so I can get moving with this thing.  I hope they arrive before next weekend because temps are supposed to be perfect.

I'm letting the video thing happen organically.  I'm not forcing the videos out, but I am filming my progress on the electric unicycle.