Arduino Tests

One small step for mankind, one giant leap for ME!

Yes, I've been in a creating mood for a while. Can't say that I've been very creative yet... as in creating cool new things, but just trying to create stuffs in general and gather up more experiences. With these newly gained experiences..., hopefully after some tinkering around, I could possibly create some cool new things in the future! Who knows? ;)

So anyway, I managed to prepare and cook one of my favorite soups from scratch over the weekend for the very first time! The Chicken Noodle soup can really take a lot of ingredients and time than I originally thought, some herbs and spices which I haven't even heard of..., but anyway, the end product was worth it! Maybe I'll try the Clam Chowder next time when we have another weekend with not much to do! ;)



I'm also slowly progressing regarding my robotic project! I actually hit a road block on that one and just couldn't build it from 'scratch' so far as I hoped I could... either I fried my micro-chip or has some other defective part or just didn't follow the instructions right or something... :(

Anyway, so I 'cheated' a bit... thanks to the Arduino Board, I've been able to get up to speed pretty easily quickly... finally able to turn on some lights when I program 'let there be light'... or when I say, 'let there be movements...' and then there were movements! ;) After I learned all the basics using Arduino, hopefully my actual 'robot' will begin to take shape and then become more fruitful and multiply as time goes on... ;)

(See above entry for video...)

Oh, another achievement which I'm pretty proud of myself was that I was able to tie my wife in a game of carrying conversations! ;) Yeah, not a very good talker... or conversationalist. This new game of ours requires us to not to drop the ball in a conversation within 45 mins of time... whoever drops it... loses!!! Well, hopefully I can beat her tonite... ;)

(Romans 7-9, 175.0 lbs, $3.279)

Mt. Rushmore and Lobster Fest!

Wife got some free tickets accumulated with the soon to be gone NW airlines... so we figured why not go some place where we probably wouldn't spend our own money going... like to the middle of nowhere in South Dakota!

So Mt Rushmore, here we come! ;)

We actually went on 9-11, so they actually lit up the presidents all night long in remembrance of that sad day in history....


Although these great American presidents were immortalized, one of the mountain sculptors who worked on Mt. Rushmore actually dedicated his life to pay tribute to one of the great American Indians- Crazy Horse! This guy started the project all by himself by the request of local Indian chiefs... and after decades, only Crazy horse's face is finished. They say perhaps in 7 more years, the horse's face can be done... we'll see. The story is very inspirational that's for sure. Although the guy is now dead, a number of his children continue on as their life mission... to finish this huge mountain sculpture... all funded by tourists like us! ;)



Oh, and last weekend we attended the world's largest lobster festival! We didn't like the amount of people who were there, but the lobsters were really good... and the price is really good too! Yum!!!!

Back to two of us again!

Yes, the little bros have all returned to Taiwan. Apartment will be emptier now... was actually hoping to put the little bros into good use to help us move and paint our new condo or something like that... too bad that didn't work out. I hope they at least had a good time over the summer here in America. It's also nice to get a chance to get to know them better.

Anyway, the hunt for a new place is still on..., we can only hope that God is still preparing for us something good! With low inventory and lots of folks trying to qualify for the 1st time buyer deal from the government, housing prices have actually gone up a bit recently! Pastor Jim did teach us to "SEEEEEEEE?" with faith! ;) Yes, may the Lord of Hosts help open our eys so that we can 'see' better and not to be too discouraged with our house hunting!

Last week, Pastor Dawn actually encouraged us to pray risky prayers such as the one David prayed in Psalm 139:

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

So I actually followed thru... and interestingly, God answered! Buying a house, God seems to be taking His sweet time, but testing me and showing me what I'm doing wrong... God answered pretty quickly! ;) Yeah, I'm usually a pretty mild manner person, but sometimes when I see idiot drivers on the road, I tend to want to teach them lessons by doing whatever they're doing to me or others! I'm actually okay with old ladies driving slow, but I can get real pissed at seeing people driving like idiots deliberately. So one day last week when I was returning home, I saw one such idiot driving on the road who cut me off. So I returned the favor by racing him and then cutting him off!!!

And then the interesting thing happend... that car was equipped with flashing lights and siren!!! It was an undercover police car!!! So I got pulled over... almost got a ticket, but I suspect undercover cops don't really have any tickets to write on! Anyway, the point is that I think God has answered my 'prayer' by teaching me a lesson instead. I think I'm going to think twice or 3 times or more before trying to teach other drivers lessons anytime soon! I know road rage isn't good, but sometimes it isn't that easy to control the 'rage'! May God help me deal with that better...

Another interesting revelation from last week due to the risky prayer was that I think God really wants me to get my act together!!! Yes, I've often complained that wife is too picky and she needs to learn to be more merciful..., but I think God has let me known that perhaps I should just get my act together better first! Before I want to help remove the toothpick out of wife's eye, why not take out the telephone pole in my eye first? Yes..., so thanks to God that I'm trying to focus more on myself and trying change myself by getting my 'act' together more. I haven't attained perfection yet, but at least so far this week, wife and I haven't really fought yet... fingers crossed! ;) My strategy so far is to get my act together so good and eventually wife will be the one end up screwing up more... and THEN I can properly show and teach her what 'mercy' really is! ;) Will I really become that good? I personally kinda doubt it, but by the Spirit of God, anything is possible, right? Can you "SEEEEEEEE" the new Billy? YES I CAN!

(John 19-21, 176.0 lbs, $3.159)