I do not generally blog or regularly update a website. I use my domain for email and the website for testing and technology demos. This most recent site update is a technology demo for a fully serverless web app using Google Cloud Run, Storage, Firestore, and Identity Platform.
Dave took me out for some loops and rolls in a DHC-1 Chipmunk!
Flying over Iowa after a winter storm with extreme winds passed through the area, creating a briskly wind-swept look on the ground.
Taken from above Lake Vermilion before descending into the pattern at 12D.
The only available new trim switches certified for use in a Piper Archer do not fit the original yoke cap. Initial attempts to create a spacer with limited metal-working tools failed. Then I attempted a 3D printed new part, which worked great!
Sometimes I don't need 240 square feet of tent. For those times the "small" 12x12 helps me get into smaller sites.
Camping up at Lake Vermilion and enjoying a fall sunset.
The camp cart was an idea I had for adding amenities to my camp setup while towing a boat. Truck campers are too small and expensive, and require a heavy duty pickup. Travel trailers can't be taken along with a boat. Triple combinations are huge and also are not a half ton pickup option.
I made a speed controller for some old water pump I found. This project was to learn more about the Atmel SAM line of microcontrollers. These ARM based chips are both cheaper and have more features than the AVR line, but it comes at a cost of complexity. For added fun, this project also used size 0603 SMDs extensively on a hand-soldered board.
Being able to create boards for and hand solder small packages like TQFP and QFN allows the use of huge range of ICs that simply do not get produced in breadboard friendly packages. Of course, an ATTINY85 is available as a DIP, but I made a breakout board for a QFN version anyway.
Seven years ago I worked for two days on writing a file glob parser function in Scala. I still think about that function every now and then.