Blog 2007
From WFFwiki
Contents |
Not much going on...
Saturday, October 27, 2007 at 2:54pm
Well, it occurs to me that it's been a while since I last added a note. The reason? I've been too busy with work to do much else. Even so, things are good over here in Sweden, winter is coming fast and the temperature seems to drop on a daily basis.
My missus Emma has got a job, and this seems to be a good thing for her and a little more money never hurts. Emil and I are planning on building another arcade machine, this time from scratch (I hope his woodworking skills are better than mine!), and, of course, I will take some pictures as we go along and post them here on Facebook. I've brought a 22" wide-screen LCD, and a tonne of arcade parts from a UK specialist, just need to buy some wood and get going.
I'm also planning on fitting a new set of buttons to my existing arcade machine since the current ones are starting to act a bit strange (I guess there are only so many years of hammering they can take).
That's it for now, back to drinking tea!
Arcade gaming!
Friday, September 28, 2007 at 3:27pm
Well it all started when a buddy of mine (Emil Schönning) asked me if I'd be interested in an arcade video cabinet, to which the answer was (an obvious) hell yes! The timing was also perfect since I had a weeks vacation this week.
Anyway, 5 days later and it's finally ready for some retro-gaming action, After Burner II, Bubble Bobble, Pacman, you name it.
I would write more about it, but I'm off to play some more games ;-)
But, I will upload some pictures for the curious, so check out the album if you are interested!
A random act of kindness
Saturday, August 11, 2007 at 3:51pm
Well, today I finally got round to repairing my remote control sailing boat, some heavy winds had snapped some of the rigging, but a little time and a little nylon string later she was ready to go!
Now, in retrospect, letting the batteries charge overnight rather than just a few hours would have been a good idea, but patience was never one of my stronger virtues...
So, of to the lake we went, round the lake it sailed, until... off to the opposite shore it went following the wind with me standing on the other side cursing and desperately trying to control the boat. Needless to say it ended up on the other side, in the reeds.
Then, just as all hope was lost, across the lake comes a lady rowing, in my best(!) Swedish I shouted "Help! My boat is stuck" (about as complex as my Swedish gets). So this kind lady rowed over to my boat, picked it up out of the reeds, and then rowed it back to me. Needless to say I was very grateful (picking the boat up is not an easy task, it is 1m long and 1.5 meters from keel to the top of the main sail).
Anyway, next time I will leave it charging overnight ;) but thanks random lady, and I mean that sincerely!
Aching knees
Sunday, August 5, 2007 at 6:52pm
Some of those who know me, will also know that about a year and a half ago I gave up driving. Maybe this is not a great thing in itself, but for a self-confessed car fanatic with 2 sports cars and a 5.9L V8 Dodge Ram under the belt, it was quite a change.
I popped my driving licences in the cupboard (I have 2, one UK and one USA), I replaced the gap in my wallet with a bus pass and, I have to say, haven't regretted it since.
The only down-side seems to be other people's reaction. When I tell them I don't own a car, the first thing I'm asked is how I lost my licence. Interesting, in this world of 'carbon-foot prints', green living and other such crap (in my own opinion of course).
So why did I do it? A good question, and the answer is learning how to slow down. These days my trip to work is a short bus ride, a few Km's through a nature reserve and then 5 minutes on the tube (tunnelbana for those Swedes that don't get English slang). I brought an iPod and either read a book, or just enjoy the views.
Next time you jump in your car to drive down the road to a shop 5 minutes walk away, don't. Take a walk, you might find you like it, and you don't need to be there in 2 minutes so you can sit in front of the TV for an extra 3 minutes ;)
P.S. If you're wondering about the title of this entry, I ran out of some electronic parts today and decided to cycle 10Km to the nearest electronics store rather than take the bus :P
Surreal Space
Thursday, August 2, 2007 at 10:55pm
The Internet is surely a strange and wonderful thing. Previously I was extremely bad at staying in touch, too lazy to call and, in my paperless world, too unable to write... But now this is changing. I have several PCs, several laptops, several pocket computers and a 3G smart phone, if there's one thing I have it's Internet connectivity.
So, what better way to say 'Hi' to all the people I know/used to know... In fact now I can just write random stuff every now and again, and those crazy (or bored enough) can come and find it for themselves with little or no effort on my part.
"Oh look! It's Simon... I remember him! I wonder if he got any better? Ah, nope doesn't look like it."
Well, well. My life didn't get more interesting, just more accessible. Perhaps that is a good thing, perhaps not, but it is an interesting development even if it isn't an interesting block of text.
I have to admit, if someone told be 5 years ago that in the future I could 'poke' someone online, I would have told them to stop drinking so much.
RS232C (Warning: Grade A Geek Entry)
Sunday, July 29, 2007 at 8:30pm
Amazing how some things never die... In this fast changing world of technologies some things work, and should not be 'fixed'.
Probably, dear reader, you have no idea what an RS232C is, and you are not alone in this. Needless to say it is one of the most singularly useful and simple ways of making a computer talk to other things around it...
USB; over complicated, doesn't work. Ethernet; requires 150SEK of card just to join in; but... RS232... The epitome of simplicity and gracefulness.
Why am I blathering on about this? Well RS232C is dying, not only is it a dinosaur of technology, but it also relies on a old standard of voltage levels computers no longer like to support. So. welcome USB, never again shall an experimenter be able to make something simple and hook it up to a computer... not without a bunch of books from Microsoft and degree-level programming.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
P.S. Yes I am having trouble making a PIC to USB interface, yes it was easier with RS232 and no I don't feel like explaining it to the simple people; there are only 10 types of people in the world - those that understand binary and those that don't.
The Freezer Alarm Redux
Sunday, July 22, 2007 at 2:01pm
I feel a sense of closure, the warm glow of success, the heady feeling of achievement... Yes, it's true... I finally finished my freezer alarm!
You can see in the picture below the finished product. Just to keep it themed (and much to the annoyance of my wife) I also mounted the whole thing in a Tupperware freezer tub.
After finding a better buzzer it now works perfectly, although I may recode the PIC application to make the buzzer pulsate (at the moment it emits a steady tone).
It's just a shame that, since I started this project, my wife replaced the freezer and now the door seems to close of its own accord.
This, I feel, is a typical example of life when you are married ;)
When did I stop being English?
Wednesday, July 18, 2007 at 7:41am
Being an 'expat' is a funny thing. I've been abroad now for getting on to 10 years, but I always consider myself to be English first and foremost; but is this really the case any more?
I travel to England less and less, when I do go there I find I can hardly relate to the people around me. English people are so much more closed to each other than. say, Americans or Swedes. I have to admit, although there are certain English things I would like to keep (accent, automatic politeness, etc.) there are many traits I am glad to miss (arrogance (well a little any ways), unfriendliness, over-the-top response to media bullcrap, etc.)
An expat is a hybrid, after a few years you are no longer English, but at the same time your can never become 'Swedish'. A no-mans-land which you can neither progress from nor retract from.
So, as I sit and drink my tea (don't panic I will hit the continental coffee at work) and type on my English keyboard (I use a Swedish one in the office) I guess Swinglish is the best I can hope for, and who wants to be ordinary any way?
Swedish vacation period
Tuesday, July 17, 2007 at 7:23am
If ever there was a time to invade Sweden, this would be it... Like a scene from the B-movie "The day the earth stood still"; there are no people, there is no traffic. A visitor to Sweden may consider that an unknown and unreported pandemic has hit the country wiping out all but a few of the population, however a visitor to Thailand may think otherwise as Swedes everywhere escape from the only nice bit of the Swedish year (known as the 'Summer-Day') and go elsewhere.
Even the famed Swedish public transport disappears, July and August are upon us a woe be to anyone who does not bow-down to the last 'screw the EU' tradition left in Scandinavia.
As for me? I wander the empty corridors of my company in search of coffee; occasionally I pass by another living soul, but they are merely shadows... beings from other offices far away, wondering where everyone went.
Computer games and crazy ideas
Sunday, July 15, 2007 at 3:09pm
Well, after my little diatribe on 'facebook's wall' the computer game problem was solved and my daughter has her money back. Still, all forms of copy protection and DRM methods are seriously flawed, they only serve to prohibit people who have a right to use the software/media and are no constraint to anyone with the slightest bit of knowledge about file-sharing.
Even Microsoft are guilty as charged... My legal copy of Visio refused to register because I have installed it more than twice (I'm on my 3rd laptop since I brought it). 20 minutes on the phone to Microsoft, not my idea of a fun morning.
On a brighter note, my latest experiment to create most over-powered freezer door alarm is coming to fruition now I've found a loud enough buzzer. Never again will the kids need to eat soggy ice-cream! - Picture attached of the 'breadboard' design, featuring an 8-bit PIC microcontroller programmed in good ol' assembly language.
The blog beginnings
Sunday, July 15, 2007 at 11:05am
After a while of scratching my head and wondering what a blog is (sounds like something that would block a toilet if you ask me), I decided to start one.
Don't know if it will be interesting, but I guess I travel quite a bit, so if I can be bothered to bring one of my many cameras along with me it might at least be worth looking at the pictures if not the text (just like Aftonbladet!).
Anyways, I digress... We'll see if I can focus my famously short attention span for long enough.