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We are here to see one of The Smith’s daughters graduate…they are close friends and Susie, my wife, needs a bit of practice traveling–so we decided to travel to Florida for the graduation and then see Micky… 

Here in Sarasota, “Ringling” is not a circus, but a college, an art museum and former mansion of the Ringlings, many sandwichs in Sarasota include the name (Ringling Rueben, for example), and even–in all capitals–the Wifi password here in Hotel Indigo.

We got here by renting a large Dodge mini-van at the helpful and friendly airport and driving to orders of Navigation after an all-night flight. Our wheelchair person, for Susie, at the tiny but very lovely SRQ Airport, who never told us her name, had moved to Sarasota from Seattle, “Husband could not handle the rain” in Seattle. She was surprised to hear how hot Portland has been, warmer than Sarasota for part of last week–at least as measured in my backyard. She likes it here but misses the Pacific Northwest Summers.

As I said, I used Nav to find the hotel in a few minutes with only a few mistakes by me. The side streets are not in the Nav! We had to wait for our room. So off to The Breakfast House, recommended by The Smiths. It was great. There were grits! We are back to the East Coast and the South. I have missed the good food and the rush of this coast. They packed people in and got their orders in. The food is all cooked fresh–you wait for the food. The hash I had was ground and freshly made then fried on a grill or pan. Old school! The grits were in a small bowl with some, a modern touch, green onions sprinkled on top. Pancakes, thick and hot and fluffy not all brown. Eggs poached but runny–perfect. All a bit rushed with tabled cleared, cleaned, and ready again within minutes.

We then headed to the campus where Kat will graduate on Thursday, Ringling College of Art and Design. We found the store where they sell art from the students and got Susie a t-shirt. After a few missteps, I found the bookstore and got a t-shirt for myself, coffee cup, and a lanyard (for Corwin who lives with us).

Off then to see the ocean. We found a small park looking into the water and Susie took a nap while I watch the small fry and crabs for a bit. The hotel called. Room is ready (see Hotel Indigo Sarasota).

Susie took some time off after we checked in–sleep time. I headed back as The Smiths were back from picking up daughter number 1 and then to late breakfast–at the same place we went to The Breakfast House. I would meet them at Ringling. I headed to campus and found a nice display of works by students in graphics arts and painting. Some amazing stuff and some stuff that well was a good start. The tarot deck, Japanese influenced style, was mounted in a frame and fantastic (I have Portland Tarot from a campaign of some year ago, see Portland Tarot). With all the different cards, it makes a complex art project as Tarot has a framework, but you can be quite free with it.

They are not here. The Smiths are at The Ringling. I head to the other Ringling. We pass on the circus museum and just walk the grounds. This is the ground and mansion of The Ringling family–yes the one with the Barnum. The properties are full of art and trees and exotica that is Florida of the past. Banyan trees. Rose Gardens. Mansion on the water.

The grounds are dotted with strange classical Victorian copies (Even a massive bronze version of Michelangelo’s David), Art Deco garden statues (for example, sphinx–male and female), Yesteryear Florida colors and buildings, and faded Roaring Twenties wealth. All in a garden that shows its age but is well groomed and full of colors. A good place for a walk. To do the ground and the museum would be a couple of days. We have hours and walk the grounds.

In the water off the Ringling mansion was a pod of porpoises or dolphin (I don’t know the difference). They were chasing the small fry into the jetty walls and well eating them. We watched them and got out all of the cameras and made movies for sharing. I did not get any usable shots–but I will see if anyone else did and add it. We left them to their meal after filming them for twenty minutes or more.

We returned from there to the Hotel where The Smith had a Ringling College function to attend. I joined Susie for a nap. Later, we joined The Smiths again for dinner, late, at the City Grill in Sarasota downtown. The night air was warm but not uncomfortable. We all ate light and had an excellent time. I had to turn on to Ringling Street to get there…

Picture by me

Yes, we are off on our next adventure. We made it to the Airport and Susie got through security without falling or being treated as a threat to national security–don’t ask. I have lost about 25 pounds and my new smaller pants are beginning to need a belt and thus I managed to not put on a display by dropping my pants when they scanned me.

David, our wheel chairman, got Susie through the process. Actually, we blocked the line for about ten minutes. The guy before us was even a bit more challenged as he had a cat and he had to hold the cat through the process–yes a real cat scan–and then they discovered that the cat container was still being x-rayed and this nearly caused, yes you know it, a catastrophe. In the end, we all made it through without loss of security or dignity or cat!

We are now at the gate. The plane is totally full. Good that we got First Class as there are no upgrades.

So we should be in Sarasota about 9:30 Wednesday morning. Mini-Van awaits us there.

We board sooner than I expected and I am editing this now on the plane. We are safe and fed and resting a bit.

I have been hearing of late all of the negative things that social media brings us. And as a Democrat and a liberal, there is a lot that is created in social media that makes me angry. But I am uninterested in how folks extract a form of vengeance on the world with social media by spreading hate and misinformation, instead, I like the cool things.

I just purchased from Sparkfun the coolest break-out board. It is a lightning detector. This little board can be listened to by a microcontroller. Can’t wait to try it out.

On social media, I also learned that there was a Tesla Company behind the Iron Curtain (see TESLA) and that gave me an idea for a display for the board. You may remember that Telsa was known for his lightning causing projects and so I want to create something that lights up with detections and maybe glows a bit when there is lightning or electrical noise is in the area.

So on eBay, I found that for under thirty dollars I could get some original and spooky looking Tesla vacuum tubes. The box looks so nice so I will have to find a way to incorporate some of the logos and art into the project. The tube is a power rectifier tube and is not likely to be of much value as this is now done by a tiny and safer component; I have no guilt in finding a new decorative use for the vacuum tube. I have carefully cut open the socket, avoiding breaking the glass and releasing various toxins into the environment, and now I can mount a NeoPixie (see NeoPixie Adafruit) to light the Tesla tube from the bottom. I can make it look like it is actually turned on (I will not supply actual 6V AC to the tube to heat it–I have found the manual for the tube on the Internet and know how it works and what it was used for). I can also have it produce various colors. I plan to mount another on the side to produce more lights.

So my plan is to reuse the tube to look like it is a Tesla device detecting lightning and electrical noise. I will slowly light the tube and flash it a bit when it gets noise and brightens it when the lightning gets close. I will add a small digital display to show the distance from the strike.

I have purchased tiny, pin-head sized, micro LEDs from Evans Designs. They make lighting kits for train models and other uses. I saw these on a build video on how to build a SciFi model on YouTube. I might be able to add one or more of those to add a bit of flash. The train guys have all the best stuff! I will also use some polyurethane to mount the tube in a transparent ring, again you get this from the train guys at the local hobby store (for me Tammies Hobbies).

I try to make something interesting as a Christmas present to various geeky friends. Last year I gave out Karl Marx 0-Euro notes (see Karl Marx 0-Euro). This year I will give my friends Telsa’s! Social Media can be so fun!

I will write up the build when I get it more together. I hope you like this more “Maker” write-up. It was what is on my mind today.

photo by me