Reboot
I've been doing a blog over a year... geez... how quickly time blah blah blah...
July has been a very nice recharge and reboot experience for me. I've had the opportunity and "downtime" to get away and think about where I'm going in the next year.
With help from some people I respect (you know who you are), I've had the opportunity to bring some intensity of focus into the picture. I've been pouring too much energy down on some ideas and projects which probably should just be let go and not enough overwhelming urgency and intensity on those projects that turn me on the most (i.e. Robotic Performance Art).
What am I doing now? Trickin' out my workshop.
I realized this past year of many, many sweaty hours in the stuffy, cluttered workshop that as much as I was enjoying the work I was doing, I wasn't exactly comfortable. I was working with a lot of makeshift arrangements.
So... I built a beefy workbench (to replace the folding banquet table I've been doing my work on so far), hung up a huge sheet of pegboard, and I did some reorganization (got rid of some stuff, organized a little more) of junk on the shelves.
I still need to figure out if the space is optimal to workflow. It needs to be PLEASANT to work in there so I have no excuses but to produce.
I'm on the lookout for a decent chair that's tall, sturdy, and comfortable enough to handle even more butt time. Drafting chairs... especially old-school industrial (i.e. steel) drafting chairs may do the trick.
I'm trying to locate surplus track lighting to supplement the dull buzz of flourescence.
I also will need to get some more airflow (besides the wimpy floor-fan I've got going on right now)... ESPECIALLY because I'm about to get into some fairly fume-able materials (ex. baking foam rubber).
I'm hacking together a pan & tilt system for remote controlling a webcam a la Woz (www.woz.org)... That's an evening assembly once a few more parts come in... software is extraordinarily simple to interface with something like that. I think there might be some cool things to do with the images (ex. superimpose annotations (that are smart enough to reposition themselves based on camera angle) of what's showing up in the picture)), but I am just trying to rapidly get something up so I can post pictures. This also implies that I get a box up in the garage (486 running Linux... acting as dumb terminal to the rest of the house's network... but needs to be hefty enough to stream music) that I don't mind getting covered in dust and grime. I actually am running into the need for multiple boxes to act as control systems for my unholy machines and unbearable secrets.
I have a hard deadline to meet with regard to my creations that will force me to do SOMETHING very soon.
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At work I'm building my woorkplan for 2003-2004 and I'm making sure I focus on those 3-4 things which turn me on the most.... I can no longer spin my wheels as much at work if I want to have the energy to do the project at home. That's why I need a laser focus on some spectacular results. Lean and mean... that sort of thing.
I'm going to blow 'em away.
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At the EFF-Austin retreat this past weekend, we worked long and hard during the day doing some mission/vision/values type of activity. I'm pleased where we're headed, and I'm very confident in the team has pulled together.
My role has shifted in the organization. I'm going to be focusing on some outreach activities and being point on throwing some events for the organization. Some will be simple (Open Source Show and Tell), and others will be more complex than anything I've ever done (geek/robo-fest).
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There is a focus and overlap among the various areas that is very exciting, indeed.
