Christmas

I woke up early to put the rib roast in the oven.  Good thing I had a dry run a month ago, the roast couldn't have been more perfectly seasoned or perfectly cooked.  My incredible shrinking auntie (60 lbs!) loved it so much, I left it all too her.  I thought she might share it with my cousins who met with her yesterday, but she's planning her meals around the meat now.  I gave her a couple batches of my biscotti as my Christmas gift, which she is thoroughly enjoying.  I told her I hope she gains 20 lbs this year.

Mom doesn't understand time anymore.  It's always April now.  When she's wishing Merry Christmas, she's just parroting me.  I gave her a clock that shows the day and date with year, as well as the time so now I don't have to write it on the board every day. 

I got myself an Echo Spot as my new alarm clock.  So last night was the first with a different clock -- now I remember why I've been using the huge LED clock for the last 35 years, I'm blind as a bat without glasses!  Okay one of my eyes was upgraded a few years ago, so I can see the clock now in analog mode.  The digital text just is too small.

I have go to to work all week (insert sad emoji face here, I can't find it).  I wanted to do half days but the engineer I'm working with keeps deciding to change something and then it takes all day to catch up to all the domino's that fell down because of his change,

Thanksgiving

I'm cooking for just Mommy & me this year.  While I wait for the roast to cook, I set up some new tech.  On the doctor's advice I got an Echo Dot because Mom keeps taking off the emergency button from her neck and leaving it around the house, usually where she is not.  I've been using the reminder & timer function today for cooking.  Every time Alexa talks, Mom asks is that your Auntie?  (Auntie has already called.)  If Mom actually needed help, I don't think she would have the presence of mind to pick up the phone, let alone ask for help from Alexa.  But it is just the first day...

Back from Las Vegas

It wasn't the vacation I hoped it would be, I cut it short and came home early.  Mom's health has been relatively decent this year until September when combination of dementia, diabetes, depression, and poor medical advice hit all at once.  On top of that, I was deep into a project at work that had me burning both ends of the candle. I turned to my accupunturist to relieve some stress but she was out of town for a couple weeks.

She couldn't get in her head that we were there for the full week and that it was a timeshare trade.  She kept ganking everything that wasn't tied down, like we were going home the next morning.  Days were so short.  I couldn't get her to leave the room before lunch, I had to bring her home right after dinner. She can't travel anymore.  Until their sold, I think we'll just have to let the timeshare weeks lapse from now on.  At least she's gotten her use from them over the last (almost) 40 years.

Penny slots have changed.  I used to play nickel & quarter slots, but the fun games anymore are penny slots.  So even though they're "penny" slots, minimum bet is still 30 to 50 cents.  I have a new point-of-view camera that I had fun with on this trip.  Kind of makes my pi cameras moot, they are capable of the same thing but the new camera looks so much better and has better lens.  Still, the pi cameras have come in handy so that I can keep an eye on her while I'm at work and I haven't hand any problems with her leaving the taps open since I put in the motion activated LED strips.

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.

Life update

I've been busy.  I've been creating. I have not been posting stuff to the internet.  I have not been overworking.  The side job actually ended at the end of 2016.  I got a call a month ago about doing stuff for the company that took over but I haven't heard anything since.

Meanwhile, I've been taking care of mine & Mom's medical & dental health.  I have lost my first adult tooth.  It had a root canal.  It had a well fitted crown.  It cracked down the middle anyway.  There was no more saving it.  It's been a painful 5 months.

So, I've come full circle with the hobbies. Right now I'm back into computers & electronics.  I guess it started with the timelapse camera last August when I had to pull out my soldering iron after 20 years in the closet.  I packed it away in 1997 when I started preparing to sell my Texas house.  I built a small computer around 2003, and I had an idea to make a really small computer as small as a cigar box.  Never got around to it.  But then last year's project got me into it again.  Computers are now the size of a finger.  Just tonight I assembled a computer which is the size of deck of cards, posting from it now!

Mom's getting more forgetful every day.  She'd leave the water running, which in California is more expensive than electricity.  She'd leave upstairs TV on while she spends the day downstairs.  She'll forget she's got something on the stovetop & go out to the garden for an hour.  I'd come home to another burnt pot.  My current project is to automate the house.  These things are now easily obtainable but expensive and they don't necessarily work as easily as my DIY projects.  Right now I'm working on a porch camera & a motion detector for the stairs which I will activate an LED strip or electroluminescent wire (haven't decided yet.)

Another POV camera!

Google Glass, Snapchat Spectacles, move over!  I could never afford them.  I could never find them.  I wear prescription glasses, I couldn't drive and wear those at the same time.  They have very short battery time, like 30 minutes, I heard?    BOOM, look what I made for $40.  That's just the cost of the little thumb drive-sized camera.  Granted it's only 640x480 resolution, but it's light enough to carry on top of my eyeglass frames.  It does still, it does video, it does audio, I can record up to two hours!  I can take it off and be normal.

 The 3D printed (manually) part snaps on to the arm and rests on top of the frame.

Then clamp the camera onto the plastic part.  My first attempt hung to the right of my temple but I found that it obscured my side vision when driving.

I don't wear beanies or headbands.  Those would be good options for future travel.  But if I'm awake, I always have my glasses on.



Oh...no real art goals for 2017.  I just want to keep creating.  I'm considering replacing my Flickr photos with short videos.