Emily

Emily and I went out on our first date on April 30th 2008. Things have been going great during this past year and we took a big step today. She moved into my condo. While I am not a big fan of moving stuff, now that the moving is mostly done it sure is nice.

She is going to China in less than two weeks and it will be a little lonely around here for the seven weeks she'll be gone, but I'll be waiting for her when she get's back.

Iowa/Wisconsin Trip

I just got back from my week and a half trip to the midwest. The first half was spent in Iowa meeting Emily's family/friends. The second half was spent in Wisconsin with my family/friends.

Good times! I'm don't have time to write a trip report right now. Maybe Emily will post something in the comments?

Here are some photos from the trip.

Windsor Trip

I went to Windsor on a work trip. Work kept me pretty busy, but I did find time to see the Windor Castle. The Queen was there, but I didn't see her. It was an amazing castle. Another cool thing I did was boat dinner. The boat went through a lock that was only 8 inches wider than the boat I was on. It was a tight squeeze. The work aspect of this trip also went very good, but I can't really discuss that.

Here is a link to a bunch more photos from the trip.

Hiking

Emily and I went for a little hike with Tookie. Here's a picture I took of some of the wildlife.



Later today I'm flying off to England for a work trip. I plan to post a few pictures from the trip after I get back.

Painting and Flooring Time Lapse

Here is a new time lapse video I made.



Here is a link to a higher quality version.

House and Photography Project

Here is a nice finished picture of the hardwood I put in the downstairs area. I really like how it turned out. It was more work than I thought it would be, but definitely worth it.



In other news I've been working on a photography gadget project in my spare time. I will publish full details on it later on my Hobby Robotics site, but since it's been taking so much of my time lately I thought I'd at mention that I haven't been sitting at home watching TV or anything. The plan is that I will make the project fully open to the public (just like all my past projects). A secondary goal will be trying to sell it to a small manufacturer that I know. I'm not sure I'll be able to sell it, but I'm pretty sure it will gain attention online since it's a pretty new concept for photography tools. I might end up going the route I've gone with my electric spinning wheel where I build it and sell it directly. The electric spinning wheels I make work this way because I set the price high enough that I don't need to make very many and it doesn't take up too much of my time (sold two in two months). I'm a little worried this project might sell more than I'd be willing to make. I like designing not manufacturing. Emily was out of town this weekend so I pretty much spent a marathon session working on this project (around 30 hours). My goal was to finish the circuit board design and I did! I sent the board design to be made which will take about 4 weeks (perfect since I'm spending the next few weeks in England and then the Midwest). I just hope it works when it comes back. Even if the board works perfectly I still many-many hours of work left to write the software.