Integrated Circuits, don't ask me why

I am working on a top secret do-it-yourself home electronics project.
After a few google searches I found a schematic for my project and now I am purchasing all of the components.
So far I've received a Hex Inverting Schmitt Trigger, a regular old op-amp, and a audio amplifier.
Don't ask me what a hex inverting Schmitt trigger does, wikipedia says its a comparator (whatever that means.) I've used op-amp's before so that's easy enough. the audio amplifier is like the op-amp i think but used for audio applications. Either way, I got an old electrical engineering text book from my sophomore year (which wasn't that long ago) and I also have the whole of the internet.
I just need to get a xR2206 function generator chip which I requested samples from EXAR, no clue on if or when I'll actually get them. The rest is a few resistors and capacitors and some switches.

this is useful?

Today with my microcontroller I made a ghostbustersesque device that made a fancy spinning display on a 7-segment LED display based on how much light was being measured by a mini-photo resistor, which has cadmium in it so says wikipedia.
I tried a few different capacitors in parallel with the photoresistor, 0.01 uF and 0.1 uF. The 0.1 uF cap had a slower RC time delay so the display spun slower than the 0.01 uF cap. I also added a x5 factor to the time delay in the script on the chip which further slowed down the rate of speed of the display. I could imagine a higher or lower cap. value would be good for coarse or fine measurements in the different in light intensity...of course don't take a mechanical engineer's word for it.

I could make a counter like on LOST...but digital

So I finally got around to learning how to control a 7-segment LED display, like the kind you find on digital alarm clocks. Apparently the like 1k-ohm resistors. Here are some pics and video of some like programs I loaded on the to microcontroller.

IT'S ALIVE!!!!!1

I made it to the part in the book where you learn about programming a microcontroller to control a servo. I started out with basic commands to orient the servo into different positions, then made some loops to do continuous sweeps at different speeds, and lastly, a loop to control position with push buttons.
Science Saturday today.

Time Traveling

Finally some down time. Mostly because I am done bike racing for a little bit and I am taking a few weeks to recover before I start my on-season. Wait a sec Ryan, don't you mean off-season? No, its an on-season because I'll be going to fast group rides (aka races) all winter long.
I haven't posted anything since April...I've been busy.
I recently got a microcontroller kit, parallax basic stamp 2 and I decided to use my blog as a good place to catalog my progress through the tutorial book. My long term plans are to get the basics down with this chip, then move to the ardunio, then tackle some of those cool DIY projects I see on the internet all the time that make lights blink on and off.
So here are a few videos, one makes 2 LED's blink and the next one controls a LED with a push button input.

Finally Some Down Time...

And by down time I mean a few minutes of interneting before I got to bed. I've been real busy lately...blah blah blah. I wake up at 6am, leave at 6:40am, get to work at 8am, leave work at 4:30pm, get home around 6pm. Then I ride my bike for 1 to 1.5 hours then I eat dinner and take care of stuff that I can't take care of work. Then at 9:30pm I start trying to wrap things up and make it to bed at a decent hour.
Work is going well, it is really fun to drive into the Kennedy Space Center every day and just be around so much history and innovation. I am getting ready for KSC family day this Saturday where I'll be able to go into some buildings that I don't have access too and I'll be able to get up close to launch pads 39 A and B with orbiter's Endevour and Atlantis on deck. Much like this. The next shuttle launch is May 12th so I am looking forward to that too.
I also need to start eating a bigger breakfast and pack a bigger lunch. By the time I get to work I am starving for 4 hours, then I eat a turkey sandwich and a can of coke, and I start for 5 hours until I get home and stuff a bunch of oreo's in my mouth before I go ride.
Anyways, I am tired from sciencing all day.

One month ago

One month ago I was sitting on the couch a good percentage of the day. Another good percentage of the day included laying in bed. A small, but noticeable amount of time was spent riding my bike. Looking back on the time that I spent in bed or on the couch, that time was largely occupied by video games, TV, reading, eating, or any combination of the aforementioned activities. Please refer to the bottom of this post for a full breakdown of my time presented in pie charts.
All this changed, and it all changed rather quickly. The story really starts back in October when I submitted a resume electronically to Boeing...I didn't hear from them until February 23rd, but I was more than happy when they called. An online application and phone interview was proceeded by knock on the door from a Fed-Ex delivery man who handed me an large envelope that was obviously sent over night. I was surprised so open it and see that I had received an offer of employment. I accepted the offer, took a drug test, faxed in some forms that I filled out, and waited some more.
I don't mind waiting, and I think I am a fairly patient person but the time that I spent waiting to hear back from Boeing to schedule a starting date was about the longest week of my life. During the time that I waited I had planned on going to South Carolina to train in some warm weather with my friends Ryan and Josh. Two day's before we were supposed to leave I received a call from Boeing Staffing Services stating that they were ready to set up a starting date for my employment. This was great news but it left me with only two days to say good bye to my friends and family at home in New Hampshire not to mention packing everything I own into my little four door Toyota Corolla.
The plans I made to move ended up being successful. I packed my car and drove to UNH where I had dinner with all my friends in the dining hall. The next day in the afternoon we (Ryan, Josh and myself) left NH and headed south to DC where we broke into our friend's house because she left us the key to the outside glass door, not the door that actually goes into the house. The next day we drove nine hours straight from DC to Summerville, South Carolina. Up until now in the trip the driving was boring. I was driving solo since my car was packed to the nine's with all of my belongings and there was no leg room for a licenseless Ryan, so he rode shotgun with Josh. Once we got to South Carolina, I had a great three days riding with my friends.
On Wednesday, while Ryan and Josh were getting ready to ride I was off in the car finishing off the last leg of my journey. Down Interstate 95 to Orlando, FL the six hour drive went by quickly and once I made it to my Aunt and Uncle's house I was relieved to be able to unpack all of my things into their guest bedroom.
Thursday's morning I tossed my bike in the car and drove to Clermont to spent the rest of the week with the UNH cycling team on the last few days of the spring break team training camp. This was great because I got to get in some more big miles and spend some more time with my friends before they headed back north to UNH. The few days I spent with my friends were great but watching them pack up on Saturday only reminded me that I was not going back home and this gave me an empty feeling in my stomach.
The rest of Saturday I spent with my Uncle and his friend at their hanger and I helped them rebuild their air plane after they replaced some avionic components. This took my mind off things for a bit but once the day was over and I got back to my Aunt and Uncle's house I went into the guest bedroom and I saw all of my books, clothes, a stack of video game cartrigdes, some DVD cases, and my college diploma scattered about the floor of the room I realized that my friends were some where on I-95 headed to New Hampshire and I was left in central Florida a week away from starting a career as an engineer.
Today wasn't so bad in terms of feelings. I was actually pretty busy. My Aunt and I went out and bought a wireless router which I set up, and I a short recovery spin on the bike went by fast as I rode in a new neighborhood. I still have a few days before I actually start work but these days won't be like the long, wind swept days that I spent on the couch in the depths of a bleek winter. These days will be filled with errands and odds and ends that I will have to take care of before I start work. These days will be short.