I haven’t been writing here so much. At first, it was because I was frantically busy, trying to impress clients with knowledge by reading ahead in the textbook the night before. Then there was a wedding which I maybe over-planned because that’s what I do when nervous (it was great, we stuck to plan A nearly the whole time; I probably didn’t need to create plan N, let alone Q).

I finished with my clients the week before the wedding. I’d rather do something closer to my skillset. I like learning but I want to build closer to what I already know instead of continuing to cantilever ever more esoteric information.

I’ve been contract-free for a couple weeks now. That used to freak me out. I was ok for one week but not much more than that: OMG, will I ever find work again?!?

As I did the accounting, I found that the business can pay us for the rest of the year with the money we have in the bank (not even counting outstanding invoices). Sweet! I have three potential clients starting in the New Year, probably one will work out.

And, yet, I still didn’t write. There was hackaday judging but that finished a while ago, writing up my thoughts didn’t talk all that long since I had plenty of notes. There was some planning involved with my birthday party (cake, check; guests, check; champagne, check; flowers, check; planning done!).

I did go to a class from ST Microelectronics, acquiring an M0+ discovery board,  M0+ nucleo board with a BTLE daughter card. That was interesting. I wanted more “how to do low energy” and they had “look at our super shiney parts you can use to do low energy”. There were some hints but nothing new to me (sleep early, sleep often, sleep deeply). I also got a potential podcast guest to talk about Cortex processors but he was baffled by the idea people would listen to a whole hour of reasonably technical information. (Yes, this does concern me, we’ll see.)

And now I’m at a class about 3D printing, getting terrible and expensive ideas about things to buy for our business. This afternoon, I plan to attend a class about wearables and electronic textiles (stretchy conductors!). I’m here on a press pass (boggle), mostly signed up to attend because I have free time and I’m procrastinating about other things.

Both SOLID and the embedded systems conference have opened their call for speaking proposals. These are both “in my wheelhouse” (I hate that phrase but I find myself using it far too much, I suppose it allows me to say “in my area of subject matter expertise” without sounding like a total nerd). I don’t have a plan for them. I’m tempted to take a chapter from my book and talk about it. I’m tempted to compile a bunch of low power tips and making a presentation. I thought about updating my network comparison presentation (see Element14 text version). But these all seem like so much work. Can’t we just have a podcast about it?

I do have a little project I’ve been working on involving my MicroView (tiny Arduino based system with a pretty OLED screen). I’ll write about that separately since I’ll put the code up (even ask for input!).

Anyway, I’ve been distant for a month or two but you’ll probably hear more from me in the next month or two. I should be looking for a contract but I’m goofing off instead. For a little while.

Hi!

How are you? I hope things are going well. Still working on neat stuff? And the family, everybody happy and healthy?

I’m doing well. It has been a little crazy since the start of the new year but I’m starting to get a handle on everything.

We’ve been doing a lot of work on the house and getting quotes for even more work (eek, a new roof). I’m super happy with the garage remodel, it is like a real room now. I’ve been pining for a microscope for the workbench so I could solder better. I could never have dreamt of that for the old garage, it would have just been another place for the spiders to live. I’m trying to be sensible and wait until I’ve needed it three times before I buy one.

I did kind of need it yesterday with a new board I got from a client. Work has been doing ok… there is plenty of it but the grass seems a little greener over there. One work project got cancelled so I immediately shifted over to a new one. It is interesting in an academic way but not really my cup of tea. I’m hoping the first one comes back or some other shiny object captures my attention. You know, I don’t really mind having to look around for shiny objects. If you hear of someone needing an embedded software consultant, do think of me, especially if they want to use an 8 or 16 bit processor.

I’ve been involved with DesignWest, the big embedded systems conference. So far, being a track chair isn’t too onerous. And I’ve been slowly working on my proposed talks. The moderator and I spoke with a panelist on the Sensors in Health panel. Scheduling it was difficult so we ended up on the phone. I was concerned about it meshing but I think we talked for all of three minutes before I thought, “This is going to rock!” I’m looking forward to repeating the interviews with the other panelists.

Let’s see, what else? The garden is a bit of a mess. We’ve had a few too many frosts this year so I’ve got a lot of damaged plants. I’m not sure the cold times are over so I haven’t cut back to new growth. It looks messy but in a few weeks, I’ll fix it.

Dogs are good. Well, not really. But they are cute so they continue to get fed. We lost Dylan, the big cat, over the holidays. That was sad. Ani, the littler, fuzzier cat, has gotten much friendlier. She’s always been really sweet but now she’s almost a lap kitty.

Oh, and my husband is great. Very excited about his new car/toy/spaceship.  He had a cold but is over it, working a lot this week since he got roped into working for one of my clients.

Well, I just wanted to drop you a note to say I’m still alive. I do hope things are going well for you.

Cheers,
Elecia