Archive for March 2006

 
 

I have another project idea and my hardware finally came in.

I recently came up with a use for a bluetooth to rs232 adapter, but found that the comercially avaiable ones tend to run for a minimum of $90. Once my LED Binary clock is finished, I’ll start working on my own version of a bluetooth-serial adapter. A quick search on the internet found that I could probably put something together with about $40 worth of parts.

On the topic of the binary clock, the Atmel AVR hardware programmer and microcontrollers that I ordered a month and a half ago came in today and, since neither Lauren nor I were here to pick them up today, I’ll pick them up from the office when I get home from work tomorrow! Let fun begin!!!

GeoCaching

Just having purchased the GPS unit described in the previous post, I decided to put together a list of easier caches in my area that I want to find as I’m starting on this new activity. The below picture shows a bird’s-eye-view of some of the hundreds of Tucson-area caches that I’m going to look for first. Some are along popular hikes, some are within area parks, and some are hidden in neighborhoods.


If any of the locals here in Tucson feel like joining me or want to learn more about the caches and you happen to have Google Earth installed, you can view my latest list of caches to be found.

New Toy… Garmin GPS

While up in Phoenix, I stopped in at the local REI and picked up a Garmin etrex Legend GPS reciever for hiking, biking, and geocaching.

gps

Back from Phoenix

We left for Phoenix Wednesday morning and decided to take a detour to the Biosphere 2 up in Oracle. It was a great facility and I learned a lot about what the Biosphere project was hoping to gain from their experiments; unfortunately, the property was just purchased by a developer and could be closing as soon as the end of the August. After leaving the Biosphere, we drove up to Tempe and did some creative sightseeing (my passengers thought I was lost, but I really knew where I was going ;)). We stayed at the Fiesta Inn and used that as our base of operations for the part of the vacation up in the Phoenix area. On Thursday, we went to see Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West facility where he taught young men and women his techniques in organic architecture. Later that day, we went to Old Scottsdale and met up with one of my sister’s friends and his grandfather for dinner. The evening was made more exciting when a restaurant down the street caught on fire! After leaving Old Scottsdale, Jeramie and Lauren went for a swim and I played with my camera without a flash. Friday was a lounging day since we had been doing things every day my mom and sister were here; we sat around and read at the pool and then went out shopping at the outlet mall later in the day. Lauren and I got home yesterday early afternoon and my mom and sister left Phoenix and arrived back in New Jersey last night. This past week was amazingly relaxing and just what the doctor ordered (even though Lauren and I are now somewhat sick from a bug my mom and sister imported with them)!

My mom and sister are out here

Mom and Jeramie came out on Saturday evening and we’ve all been hanging out here in Tucson doing the tourist thing for the last few days. We went to Saguaro National Park on Sunday with Jenny, the Desert Museum yesterday, went out to dinner at the Melting Pot last night with Lauren’s uncle Kevin and his kids, and today we are going up to Mount Lemmon and possibly Sabino Canyon. Tomorrow morning, we are headed up to Phoenix to spend the rest of the week seeing what there is to see up in that neck of the woods.