A couple weeks ago, I picked up a Palm T|X to replace my old Vx. I’ve really been enjoying the new one – it’s got a nice color screen, built-in wi-fi and Bluetooth (so nice not to have to plug this thing in to synchronize it), and quite reasonable battery life (not quite as good as the Vx, but much better than a cell phone). Ain’t technology grand…
What's been on my mind lately? Read on...
Anyone wanting to be more depressed about the Bust administration and the inhumane treatment of foreign detainees should take a look at this New Yorker article. Actually, pretty much everyone ought to read it. You can also listen to an interview with the author of the article here.
Although my favorite vegetarian asian restaurant, Wholesome Vegetasia, closed, an excellent vegetarian dim sum restaurant, Vegetarian Bistro, opened in its place. I went yesterday – definitely try the fried mashed potatoes and egg custard
I also found a great Korean place north of the city on Aurora. I set out to find a restaurant I’d been to a couple years back, but didn’t see it, and instead tried this place. If you’re in the neighborhood or up for a drive, check out Hae-Nam Kalbi & Calamari. I got the bi-bim-bap, which was excellent, and tried a bit of a couple of soup dishes that were also quite good. I’m looking forward to going back.
I got my LMD18200 working last night, and can now successfully control a DC motor from the PIC. No PID controller yet, but it’s not far off. Pretty soon I’ll be ready to fire up a motor in place and bring the arm to life.
Towards that goal, I’m continuing my foray into the world of sparkies (electrical engineers) by laying out a circuit board (for the robot arm) with PCB-123. Not only do they share my rhyming moniker domain-naming scheme, they provide (Windows-only) free schematic and layout software. We’ll see how it goes.
Two weeks ago, I ended up working the whole weekend, and not shaving for a couple days. I figured it was the perfect time to experiment with a beard – something I hadn’t ever done, unless you count the adolescent crap everyone tries where it looks like you’ve just got some dirt on your chin. You can check out the results here, but not in person, since I’ve shaved it off. A successful experiment in the sense that I learned something, but mostly I learned that beards are itchy.
