Seems like the only time I post here is when I update the look of the site. Well, that’s going to change. So, the updates: I graduated (for the last time I think), bought a house, got laid off, got a better job, and started disc golfing. Been a good few years!

So I haven’t actually posted something new here in a while, if you discount updating the previous entry umpteen times with new pictures. That got a bit unwieldy so I moved it up to it’s own page above (look up there at the top) and hide the entry that was here. Speaking of which this site was overhauled too. It was past time for a new look. I was never 100% sold on the previous theme I downloaded so this time I just made one of my own. I’m happy with it again. It’s not complete yet. I need to put the dynamic stuff back in, the background color changing with the time of day and the top image. Currently both are fixed to what you see. This weekend I hope to have the time to do it right. There will be fewer colors and the top image at the top will match the color of the page instead of being random. And I’m going to get rid of a bunch of the less then stellar images. The stellar ones are mostly from the Astronomy Picture of the Day, linked above. I’ve massively abbreviated everything up there, but it’s all still there plus lots of new stuff.

One of the big reasons I haven’t had time for this much neglected site is school. I’m into my final year of Mechanical Engineering. I only have my senior design class this semester. Or rather I did until I thought “hey I’ve got LOTS of free time, I should learn Mandarin!” so now I’m taking Mandarin too. Additionally I’m also relearning/refreshing Spanish and French and maybe, sort of considering Tagalog too. Tagalog likely won’t happen for me this year though. The senior project is great though. We’re designing a replacement for the MIT Handiboard. That may have been a good system at one point but it’s certainly seen better days: it’s too slow, big, heavy, error prone, and expensive. Our system will be small, lightweight, under $50 (preferably about $30), modular, and completely open. You can buy one or roll your own. We should have the beginings of a prototype here in the next week or so. Controlling a robot will come a few days/weeks after that. World domination commences with the new year. As it stands we have more demo ideas then time, effort or money will allow and we’re still coming up with more ideas. Come Design Day in mid-April we’ll hopefully steal the show!

My friend Sheryll has a photography business. She is amazing, and I’m not just saying that because I’m paid to! lol I don’t get paid at all actually, I’ll have to look into that. Check out her work: http://www.sheryll-lynne.com/

So the new blog is coming along pretty well. It’s not quite done yet, but once done will have a number of nice things on it. The banner image at the top will change each time the page is loaded. The sidebar and post header/footer will change color in time with the day, probably every 2-3 hours instead of every hour like it is now. That’ll involve some javascript-fu to make it happen. Mostly written but needs to be adapted.  There may also be a clock and/or a music playlist embedded on the page. We’ll see. I’m also going to see if I can make the page adapt to the seasons automagically, that shouldn’t be too hard but we’ll see how lazy I get. Also, my old sidebar of links needs to be fit in some how. Right now I’m really not certain how I’m going to make that happen. It’ll be figured out at some point. And I’ll likely put up a dedicated page for the robot. Also, the calendar will likely be linked up to my Google Calendar and my home computer / iPhone calendar. If I can get all four to autosync I’ll be amazed! Lastly, the webcam is in limbo for the time being. No idea what’s going to happen with that one. Time to go, I hear gliders roaming around…

So the webcam isn’t really back, I guess. It was going to be. Now I think it’ll just be on periodically from my laptop, where ever that happens to be. Currently it is/was in the Overmoe room of the WEB. 10 hours there on a Sunday kind of sucks. Also, it was brought to my attention that not only am I not the only person who reads this site, but some people would like updates more then once a quarter. So I’ll be trying. Promises? Never. :-p

The webcam is back, at least for now.

My buddy just started a site. “It’s a comprehensive resource for laser eye surgery if you’re interested in correcting your vision. Check it out. “