2010 Christmas Lightshow

Got my lights up!
All the details are in the comments of the video. Leave a comment (here or there) if you want . . . → Read More: 2010 Christmas Lightshow

Couch Potato

It’s been a busy few weeks of sitting on the couch. I’ve been working on the light sequences for the Christmas show. Even for a 3 minute song, the sequence takes about a week of evenings to get right. There’s only so many ways you can make the lights dance, and trying to make it look . . . → Read More: Couch Potato

Is it Christmas already?!

I’ve been working on my Christmas display already. It’s going to be pretty lame I think, but it’s still a lot of work.

I’m just getting into the automated lights/computer controlled thing, and it’s been a bit of work to get started. I started about this time last year, ordering circuit boards, electronic parts, and getting . . . → Read More: Is it Christmas already?!

of dogs and renos

We’re taking a trip out to the west coast in a few weeks and unfortunately Maggie is not carry on. So we’ve been looking for a good place to board her. A couple of the neighbours have offered to look after her, and it’s very much appreciated. (Awesome neighbours here) but Maggie’s a spoiled brat and . . . → Read More: of dogs and renos

New Oscilloscope

I bought a new oscilloscope off of eBay the other day. I’ve always had good luck with eBay and this purchase was no different. I ended up with a Tektronix 2246A; It’s a 100MHz analog scope from the late 80s.

My last scope was an old 2 channel 20MHz scope made by Brunnel Instruments. Not sure when . . . → Read More: New Oscilloscope

More Parts

I got another shipment of electronic components from Digikey.ca the other day.

Their ordering interface is crap. I spent many frustrating hours setting up order lists only to be confronted with the inability to combine them. Searching for parts is difficult, and all in all just a bad experience. But, they have a deal with Canada . . . → Read More: More Parts

No boot device…

Opened up the laptop this evening and that’s what I was greeted with. No boot device… nice. A reboot, and all appears well, but that’s not what I want with a new lappy. Hope it was an isolated incident and will not be happening again.

Being that it’s the end of June, it’s time for me to . . . → Read More: No boot device…

More renos

I got fired up about doing some more work on the basement, so I thought I would start on the bar area. We are trying to save a bit of cash, so we’re going to reuse the existing bar, and paint out the bead-board, or wainscoting, or whatever it’s called.

I really don’t want to be . . . → Read More: More renos

Well, there’s your problem!

This is why you don’t bury junction boxes in walls and ceilings…

…and also why you should follow the recommended procedure for hooking up more than one baseboard heater to a single thermostat. Hint: this is the wrong way.

We’re doing major renos… we’ve added a furnace/AC and now I’m pulling all the electric heat out. I’m also . . . → Read More: Well, there’s your problem!

Sump pump install.

I somehow got started uploading crap to youtube…

…ok, I can’t get embed to work right… I’ll try to figure it out one day.
Edit: Just needed to disable the WYSIWYG editor… should be . . . → Read More: Sump pump install.