By Ryan McElroy
Radio stations here in Seattle have gotten much better recently. First, 107.7 The End switched to a new format where music was emphasized, especially the alternative music that defined The End in its earlier years; DJ’s were deemphasized (a move I wholeheartedly agree with), and in general, there was more music to talk. Then I found out that 96.5, formerly The Point, an 80’s station, is now KRock, “Alternative Seattle,” an alternative rock radio station who’s musical selection seems to be even better than The End’s new format. Between the two I have found radio bliss, something I haven’t experienced in Seattle since 1997.
Today, I woke up at a sleep-defying 7:00 am in order to pick up Bobby and Jacob at the UW and get them to Larry’s around 8:00. We ended up pulling in at 8:40, but the three of us were able to turn the tide and convince the group that our idea for a strategy was feasible – basically, we’re building a huge arm that happens to not preclude any other strategy; it should make everyone happy. With another top-notch drivetrain coming from Larry and Dave, we should once again have the best combination of power and speed out on the field, and if we do the arm right, we should be nigh unstoppable. Hanging and small balls then become icing on the cake known as winning the Pacific Northwest Regional, and if we are able to raise $4000, the National Championship as well.
We broke for lunch, having crunched numbers and checked feasibility to determine that our arm could concievably lift 200 pounds at 5 feet – a figure which made us all giddy with excitement. After lunch and some small work on Inventor, we headed back to the UW with Chris and Tim. There, I soon fell asleep and got nothing accomplished before returning home, where I got my Dad’s new WET11v2 working for him before coming up here, writing this, enjoying 107.7 and 96.5, and feeling hungry for the fourth time today.
By Ryan McElroy
Today, I made some prints of a few select negatives. I am in love with 8×10 prints. So much detail and so beautiful if done right. I used a grain focuser (a very nifty tool) and found an enlarger that I like. It is pure magic watching your image apear on the paper as you dip it into the developer. After shcool, I finished off the Bearing block design (see left panel), then hung out with Amy and found out that there is still time to raise money for Nationals. We have both gotten a second fundraising wind. Wish me luck!
By Ryan McElroy
I had some trouble waking up, but made it to the school at 6:09, well before any of the carpool riders had actually left. I was driving the Saturn, so I took three passengers and headed for Kane Hall at the UW. Traffic was virtually nonexistant, and we arrived around 6:30. Once there, we watched as the entire lecture hall filled to capacity with eagar students awaiting the anouncement of this year’s game. After the usual techincal difficulties, and then the usual hour and a half of talk, the game was revealed. Compared to some unveilings (especially 2001), it wasn’t as intimidating. That may just be experience, but still, this game is unique, despite reusing many components from previous years, and its still a doozie. After the game was announced, raffle tickets were sold by team 824, SWAT Robotics, the team hosting the event. The grand prize was a Pentium 4 2.8 Ghz Compaq Laptop. Since it was for a good cause I pitched in, eventually amounting 17 tickets at $5 a pop. Of course, the reason I tell you this is that I WON THE RAFFLE and got a brand new laptop worth $1600 for a mere $85. Of course, this means Mobius, the laptop I’m using right now suddenly seems to be a little older. I still love it though – I just have to find a good home for it once I get everything I want working on the new laptop. Parents are probally high on the list. After the celebration subsided, pictures were taken, and I signed to acknowledge that I had won, then I got to leave with a brand new laptop – currently awaiting its official name and compiling the Gentoo Linux bootstrap. Pretty much everything else has gone well today – I got cable modem installed at the house, Bob and I found the old EDUbot, battery, and charger , and the new laptop seems to be more linux-friendly, or at least linux is more friendly to the new laptop.
Now I am sitting in Bob’s bed plunking away at this computer while the new laptop compiles, and bob works simultaneously at his laptop and his desktop. Good times!
By Ryan McElroy
Turkey day has come and gone. Got up at 8:20, did breakfast, then went down to Newport High for the annual Turkey Bowl. Returned home, cleaned my room, watched Cowboys loose to the Dolphins, then made mashed potatoes and had an incredible dinner dozed, and chatted. Fun day.
Yesterday, Amy wasn’t feeling well, so I ended up leading the girls to Larry’s house where they got to do drilling, riveting, bandsawing, chopsawing, and soldering. It went well.
Dialup speeds suck.
By Ryan McElroy
The neighbors seem to have changed their wiresless configuration somehow; the result is that I am stuck with dialup speeds at my place of residence until I move to the UW probally. Still, any sort of access is better than none at all, and I can always go the Creighton’s or Amy’s or the office when I need speed.
Today, I woke up, went to the school where I met Amy and we got materials for tomorrow’s power tools workshop, then we looked for the place that a friend of mine works for (unsuccessfully), then we went to her house and wrote grants, revamped the TRC forums, and a multitude of other things. We spent a total of 13 hours straight together. Craziness!
Had a good couple of chats with Kat at Tulane. She’s fun.
By Ryan McElroy
Woke up mid morning, had breakfast, went to office where I discovered I don’t know how to reset the counter on Xerox’s J7 cartridge. Its the current $400 question. Next, I ordered and picked up Domino’s Pizza, went to the school, met with Amy, Deborah Bach and a photographer (I don’t remember her name, I think it starts with a J though) from the PI. We talked, she interviewed for an hour and a half, many pictures were taken, and tomorrow we should see a good article about the TRC. After this, I got a case for my phone and a case for my camera, then went home, started dinner, chatted, ate dinner, and now I’m getting ready for sleep. Not too exciting, but I did get some useful things done.