Last week, I finally got around to making a new housing/frame for my Chumby, which I won a few months back from Bunnie’s Blog. I like the idea of the device (essentially an internet-enabled alarm clock) well enough, but the design really didn’t do it for me, and I tore it apart the day it arrived.

I picked up some scrap plexiglass, and went to town on the laser cutter & table saw. Some plastic weld (MEK, I think) holds the two pieces together. I pared the circuit boards down to the barest essentials (and got rid of the riser board, connecting the WiFi directly to the main PCB), and mounted the big switch directly to the base so I can thwack it easily from bed to snooze. It’s woken me up on time and with traffic, weather & news every morning since last Thursday. Way to go, Chumby.

I spent the weekend in Portland, leaving early Friday to get a fun day in before playing at Kleinman. Drew and I met up with some friends of his down their, and we all had a exceptionally good lunch at Pok Pok, a Thai restaurant in south east Portland. Everything we ate was great, from salad to dessert.

Kleinman didn’t go as well as I’d wanted. We lost Sunday morning to another Seattle team that we really should’ve beaten. They played well, to be sure, but we gave the game to them by not running hard and making some big mental errors. We’ve definitely got some work to do for Spawnfest and Sectionals.

One redeeming part of Sunday (after our loss and all) was Portland’s King Burrito. I wish Seattle had one of these – my lunch was a gargantuan carnitas burrito and a drink for $4.95, ready in about 3 minutes. And it was good, too. Damn.

For better or worse, Thursday will mark the first time I’ve picked up my knitting (I’ve now been working on my sweater for 9 years!) this year, as it’s Stitch ‘n’ Pitch. And since it’s a ballgame, I probably won’t get much done on the project. Thankfully, I haven’t changed shape much in the last 9 years, so it’ll likely still fit when I’m finished (next year, perhaps?).

I’m headed up to the World Ultimate and Guts Championship in Vancouver on Friday to watch the tail end of the competition. I’ve been enjoying the web-updates on the site, and I’m looking forward to seeing some of the games in person, as well as checking out Vancouver (by bike, no less). Though I’ve been in Seattle three years, and Vancouver is only two and a half hours away, I haven’t spent more than 12 hours there, total. Glad that’s getting fixed this weekend!