The morning started at 6ish, an early Saturday. I started my blog early–I usually write the previous day’s blog in the morning on weekends. I felt that I should invest in writing that day, and I broke my usual 1,000 words habit by writing more than 1,700 words on Saturday. I also had a few minutes to work on my electronic project and finished some wiring. I ran out of black solid core hookup wire (I use solid when I want to position and strand wire (which is more flexible) when I need the wire to freely move. Ground (my usual use for black) gets used most often.
I called the hummingbird house, and Jennifer (who is not usually on for the weekend) told me that Susie was stable and needed help eating; Susie’s right arm was still sore and unusable. Next, I showered and dressed and then collected my Apple computer with other items to connect it for movies (I usually use the cable TV in Susie’s room, but we could still use the Apple if it was something online).
I am making an effort to slow down and do some self-care. Piers Anthony’s incarnation of Death character rode in a pale corvette with the number sticker that read: Death, Nature’s Way of Telling You To Slowdown. Words to live by but so hard to remember in an emergency.
Breakfast is an NYC bagel; thanks, Joyce, for the Zabar’s bagels. I make delicious liberal coffee in my French Press. To remind you, dear reader, I have been picking Fair Trade to drink since the election of President Trump. Almost every morning since his election, I celebrate being liberal with my coffee choices, currently Fair Exchange brand. Every great taste reminds me of who I am and what I believe in, which can be summarized as Doing the right thing for people and being the Future you want, Now. Hmmm, liberal.
Boarding Air Volvo, Saturday traffic is heavy and messy but not stressful and well-behaved. I arrived around 11 at the hummingbird house, and Susie was freshly sitting in her recliner in the shared living space with some movie playing. I immediately observed that Susie was more awake and functional than yesterday–Susie was better, a relief. We called Leta, who was worried about Susie and was relieved to get a more responsive call today. Leta committed that Susie was feeling much better. Susie’s arm is still not moving much, and according to Jennifer, the muscle is stiffer and still a bit hot to touch. Barb, Susie’s sister, was visiting Leta, so Susie could see and say hello to her sister too.
I sat in the living room with Susie all morning in her wheelchair (why not?) beside her chair. I watched a bit of the movie that Susie nodded off to a few times but woke up and watched most of it. I had the Apple in my lap, and it was awkward without a desk. I looked at circuits to map a 0-3.3V source to be changed to a proportional 0-5V circuit. I wanted to put a needle meter (I have a few I bought years ago, thinking they would be cool to use, but the old-school displays have just languished in my drawer of parts) in my project to show volume, but I am working in low voltages. I was looking for hours while Susie watched the show on how to do this conversion. I can have the hardware to do a discrete digital change(0, 3.3V converting to 0,5V and even back), but I did not have anything that did a proportional change. This is, to me, relaxing–mad scientist work.
Susie was ready for some lunch at about the end of the movie and seemed comfortable and in no lasting pain (her arm still hurts when she moves it). So I headed out and went to Chipotle for lunch and read more about Amp circuits. I discovered that the LM383, the old standby, is a poor choice for my work (I am not sure how many LM383x I have in my Radio Shack-like part draws in the garage, but I have a lot), and I want to convert 5V, but that is my power limit. I would need to get at least 7V to the LM383 so it could have enough power to produce the matching 0-5V. I was planning on a 9V input regulated to 5V and bucked to 3.3V as needed–After making the blue smoke (12V to a 9V max) come out of my low voltage but cool amp in my radio, I always regulate voltage now). I could get use the 9V in the LM383, as it can take more than twice that, but the LM383 is known as the battery-killer amp. I needed something higher tech.
I learned that there is a rail-to-rail concept that would let the 5V through (after proportionally limiting to match the source). This would also use less power and produce less heat. But, instead of being near free (LM383x are cheap, dirt cheap), the new-ish LMC622x would be expensive (a whopping $2.00+ for a hole-thru IC). As I am not mass-producing a toy for the lowest possible cost, this would be something new to learn and use, and the cost is not prohibitive for a few circuits.
My solutions are to use the old chip and directly connect to the source voltage to get enough power to drive to 5V or to use the newer LMC622 and try out rail-to-rail voltage. My inner mad scientist was saying “yes” but sounding like the evil emperor in Star Wars. A perfect distraction for me today.
On my return, Susie was resting in her bed. She was not sleeping as much and would ask me things all afternoon. When I fell asleep in the chair for a moment, she woke me asking me if I was OK–she gets worried when I am not moving. Susie was better.
I spent the afternoon in my comfy chair in Susie’s room with my laptop. I ordered 4″ 8 Ohm speakers (for my next project), four LM622x, and a Sparkfun solid core hookup wire kit (lots of colors) from Digi-key (they even sell Sparkfun and Adafruit items being often the only source available for Adafruit products while Lady Ada and friends fought for the people of NYC, where she is based, during the pandemic). The items will be here next week or so.
Susie was placed on her side (her butt was sore from the chair and sitting in one place too long), and it was soon time for me to head out. Louis, Jennifer’s husband, was doing a short shift and making dinner–spaghetti and salad with garlic bread. I said goodbye with a kiss, and Susie agreed that Sunday would not be an early day (no church).
Traffic through Portland was messy, and there were some stressed drivers erratically changing lanes. I drove without much rush as I had an hour. The traffic was better after the tunnel that leads into Portland on highway 405. I had enough time to stop by Mcdonald’s and have a shake and a fry (both guilty pleasures). I soon arrived and was surprised that we were switching from the board game Dominant Species to another game, but we returned to it.
This game is not a favorite for me, but I wanted to try it again as I knew it better now (I have been crushed multiple times) and watched some how-to-play videos on Board Game Geek after writing the blog earlier Saturday morning (as I said above). I also read a few articles on the game while hanging out with Susie. This is a worker placement and resource management game, but it is mean. It is about species being dominant and destroying your opponent’s species and managing and creating the playboard to your advantage and often the other players’ disadvantage. There are devastating dominance cards, including erupting a volcano in your opponent’s areas! I managed to win by one point over Richard.
I cannot recommend Dominant Species (DS) unless you like to win more than playing elegant systems found in games like Weather Maker or Terraforming Mars. For brutal games, there is Scythe which is faster and cleaner, and Twilight Imperium, which is only slightly longer than DS! DS is made by GMT, and their games are more wargame-like and highly competitive. DS is a puzzle to solve while other players are hitting you from everywhere. A unique game and one for you to try if you are a grizzled gaming veteran. I won by killing Richard’s species every chance I got (he was higher on the food chain, so he won on all ties) and still only won, covering the map areas and glaciers with my species, by one point. I followed a hyper-aggressive approach (not my usual), matching my play style to the theme of survival at the cost of others.
I drove Kathline home; Caroline (our other German gal) lived a short drive away and brought her own car. Kathline and I talked about books for a while, sitting in her driveway, and then I drove home. I reached home after midnight (now 1AM), and I moved all the manual clocks forward an hour.
Thanks for reading and happy (ugh) time change!
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 