Lee.org

Over the summer I went to a sourdough bread workshop at 18 Reasons Josey Baker. I love to eat sourdough more than I like to make it. He put on a good workshop and I picked up a thing or two.

Here’s the sheet he handed out:

I’m teaching “BeetleBots Zooming Everywhere!” at Workshop Weekend, Dec. 10-11 in Oakland! Come learn, make, or build something new. Use my coupon code BEETLEBOT2011 to get 10% off tuition. Register online at http://whatwillyoulearn.com/catalog

There’s a lot more classes running at the event, check it out.
I hope to see you there!

————————————————–

Here’s the full class description of my class

BeetleBots Zooming Everywhere!

This workshop is best for 9-15 year olds.

In just two hours we’ll take some motors and switches and turn them into living, scampering, skittering BeetleBots! It’s a robot that zooms around your kitchen floor in the cutest/creepiest(?) way you’ve ever seen!

When you’re done, you’ll know how to build more of these little guys (did I just say Holiday Project with family?)

This relatively easy robot project gives great food for thought on the nature of artificial intelligence, robotic mobility and… nah, they’re just awesome to play with!

If you don’t have these skills already, you’ll learn how to use a soldering iron and hot glue gun. But the magic isn’t in the legerdemain, it’s in how we put these little guys together and make them go!

Instructor Lee Sonko
Tuition $20
Lab Fees $7

I just installed Sonic.net DSL service. So far, it’s going great. I called Customer Support 3 times to hammer out setting things up and they were always quick to answer, very helpful, and nice.

I’m using an SBGGlobal Siemens SpeedStream 4100 ADSL modem. I thought it did ADSL2+ as well but I was wrong. My modem will go up to 8mbps. I ordered a $65 (inclusive) ADSL2+ modem so I should be up to 20mbps in a week.

AT&T = 5mbps down, 0.5mbps up
Sonic = 7mbps down, 0.8mbps up
Sonic with new ADSL2+ modem = 20 mbps down, [??] mbps up

To set up your service:
* Switch your DSL modem to “Bridged Mode (PPPoE is not used)”
* Set your router to DHCP
* Set your router’s DNS to Sonic’s DNS
* * Primary DNS 208.201.224.11
* * Secondary DNS 208.201.224.33

Update 12-11-11: The new modem showed up today. It was plug and play :-)
The speed was limited at 8mbps so I called support. The technical support reps primary suggestion was that the wiring in my building wasn’t good enough. I plugged the DSL modem into the wall right next to my phone jack but that didn’t help.

Then he tried uncapping the line (telling the DSL modem to go as fast as possible even though it didn’t think the line was good enough) and I’m now getting 16mbps down, 0.8mbps up :-). With the uncapping, maybe everything will suddenly go bad when the humidity climbs or when there are sunspots, but then maybe not. Life is a chance.

I have to thank Cindy for getting me two tickets to the Glide Church Holiday Jam. Thursday night I took Allison to this event at the Warfield. It’s so easy to forget how music lifts the soul. The Glide Ensemble, Tom Johnston from the Doobie Brothers sang Listen to the Music and other amazing songs, Sheila E and her dad Pete Escovedo played several numbers, Maze Daiko rocked, and the greatest cover band I ever heard POPLYFE played (I suspect they won’t be a cover band for long! the father of the lead singer sat in front of us, he described how noone in the band is over 16. Correction! They have original songs, at the show, they did some AMAZING covers), Valerie Simpson (from the huge writing duo of Ashford and Simpson) sang “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing”, wow.

The food before during and after was great. The hors d’oeuvres after kicked ass, and the company was terrific.

I just got a giant 65 watt compact fluorescent to fend off Seasonal Affective Disorder. So far, so good.

The light has good color rendition and it’s bright as all get out. I’ve still got to find a good way to mount it. A local video store uses these lights in their shop, their lights are labelled “Bright Effects 65 Watt Soft White CFL”, and they got them from Lowes. I went to Lowes and (apparently) they’ve been rebranded as “Utilitech 2600 Series 65 Watt Soft White CFL product 0046931”.

Right now it’s mounted near my computer monitor, so I might just start getting a suntan as I geek. I’ll figure out a less obtrusive mounting method. Charlotte told me about a study where people successfully received light therapy on the backs of their legs, so I shouldn’t need to put the light on my face.

The light in action. Notice how everything else is freaking black? My camera couldn’t handle how bright it was!