Journal2001April
From Simreal
Contents |
April 2001
I haven't really written anything on these web pages this year, and nothing that interesting last year! I have a good excuse...
January last year saw me with a number of personal issues in my family; these progressed for a while, putting almost all of my non-critical projects on hold. Yes, this included robotics projects. In July of last year, I separated from my wife of seven years (interestingly, we remain friends and chat almost daily. We are currently divorced). Then, I started work on my third book, a second robot book. Not far into that project, I was sucked bodily and whole into the Halloween frenzy (documented in my Haunting area).
This let up in, oh, November, just in time for me to start panicing in earnest about my book! Of course, I had developed a new relationship by then as well...
Now here it is in April, with just a few months left on my book schedule, and just about all I do is eat, drink, sleep, work at my day job, and work on my book. Of course, I'm also moving the Goblin systems stuff forward as best I can... hoping to get a Fuzbol update into the new book... moving my controller over to a new MCU by Cygnal... ummm, taking time for my girlfriend Marla... you know. Life.
Yeah, yeah... I have a life. So what? What's up with Boris? B3?
Boris has a new home, with enough space that I can work on him again! The Robot Group lab has gotten busy, and crowded, so Boris is now stretched out at John Nagle's garage. We've spent the last few visits (I go up on Sunday nights, with some exceptions) getting the system tested and functional again. Boris was on the wall for over a year, and things had gotten a bit cranky. Everything is good now, except one controller board has lost it's mind -- seems the Atmel chip won't hold its program for some reason. I will be replacing the card with a new Cygnal FuzBoard if I can't fix it...
... oh, what's FuzBoard? Wait and see. Coming later this year.
B3 is, due to my current crazed panic, on hold.
Of course, I've added some projects (intermittent) with regards to lifecasting and animatronics of a high quality nature... wait and see! It may turn into my fourth book in a year or two. Of course, you'll see it here first.
My what? Oh, my third book. Yup. Robots. A larger robot this time, and some interesting research on AI, and some hardware projects that you won't believe. I won't believe, either, until I actually finish them all!. The AI research will probably turn into web-based projects, a discussion board, and cheap newsletter... we'll see. Exciting stuff, though, exciting stuff.
Well, I had better get back to work... see you next month!
