Sabbath Mind

One of my innumerable New Years resolutions is to observe the Jewish sabbath. To that end, I put in a request at work to no longer be scheduled on Friday nights or Saturday days. The GM honored my request, which I appreciate.

I'm not sure exactly how I plan on observing the sabbath. I don't plan on regularly attending services, at least not in the near future. I'm not going to go all-out and not turn on my computer or worry about things that might cause "work". What I am going to do is cultivate a more God-centered perspective on my day of rest. I'm going to refrain from thinking about my job or school. I'm going to focus on the Love of the Universe as well as the love of my life, my future wife. The sabbath is going to be about me and my betrothed, life and God.

MAKE explains LEDs

In honor of this being the first day of classes at PJC, I'm sharing this video from MAKE:



MAKE presents: The LED from make magazine on Vimeo.

My class tonight is called Digital Fundamentals. According to the online course description, the course's "Major Learning Outcomes" are:

At the end of the course the student will be able to:
Use basic trouble-shooting equipment such as the DVM, Logic
Probe, Logic Pulsar, Current Tracer, and the Oscilloscope.
Covert from decimal to octal, hexidecimal, BCD, and Gray Codes
and vice versa.
Analyze and develop a basic understanding of the basic logic
gates circuit operations and functions.
Design basic functional logic circuits given a Boolean equation
or truth table.
Define basic terms and terminology used in logic circuit
operations.
Identify logic symbols used in logic circuit diagrams.
Analyze the operation of a logic circuit diagram.
Identify the characteristics of the major logic families.

Sounds like fun! (Seriously.) Thanks to the electronics class I took last semester, I have at least some clue about what'll be going on.

another week, another storm

I'm happy to be attending Pensacola Junior College and I think I can get a good, worthwhile education there, but that school definitely has its moments of disorganization.  Last night was my first night of class for the fall semester.  My Monday class is called Electronics for Technology and for its grand beginning we learned that we don't yet have an instructor.  We didn't get a syllabus and, because of Labor Day, we won't be meeting again until September 8.  I wonder if we'll get a 2 week discount on the class.  Oh well.  I didn't really have money for the textbook yet, anyway.

There's a hurricane in the Caribbean.  Great.  Its name is Gustav and it's headed for Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Cuba.  Then it's supposed to move into the Gulf of Mexico.  Forecasters aren't sure what it's going to do from there but they are describing it as a major hurricane.  The Pensacola area just dodged Tropical Storm Fay.  Now we have to keep our eyes on Hurricane Gustav.  I hope it doesn't hit us but the problem with that line of thinking is that it means I indirectly hope the storm wreaks havoc and destruction on someone else.  It's going to do serious damage to someone, somewhere.  I just don't want it to be me.  I don't want it to hurt anyone, but if it comes down to you or me...  Keep track of Gustav and his incipient siblings at the National Hurricane Center.

Early mornings are no time for moral dilemmas.  Time to return to the comfort of Gizmodo and beyond.

the nobility of vcr repair

I just finished up my "Intro to Computers in Technology" course.  The book we used was called Computers are Your Future.  Hell, they're already my present so that potentially ominous-sounding title strikes me as just plain silly...like something out of the 80s.  It was a good course, a nice return to the ridiculous halls of academia.

I'm currently debating between the various emphases.  The main areas I'm thinking about are consumer electronics and medical electronics.  It seems to make sense for a number of reasons to focus on medical equipment.  I know I don't want to focus on computers and/or networking equipment.  I don't want to be a computer repair guy, I know that much.  But beyond that I'm not sure yet.  I could end up repairing industrial equipment.  Who knows?  I think I'd rather do something at least somewhat noble, though...and that takes me back to medical equipment.  The decision doesn't have to be made yet, though.  Maybe "noble" means fixing your TV.  That'd be cool.

Big ups to Ben at Homebrew Junkie for his AWESOME new winemaking videos.

From serving to soldering...

Recently I registered for my first class at Pensacola Junior College in my quest to get an Associate in Applied Science degree in Electronics Engineering Technology. Talk about a career change: switching from being a restaurant/bar work to an electronics technician. Given my epicly bad academic history, it'll be interesting to see how this particular academic adventure goes. I think it'll be a good one.

The class I've registered for is called Introduction to Computers in Technology.

A first computer course, geared to providing technology students with a working knowledge of computer hardware and software related to their vocation. This course focuses on five concepts; basic keyboarding, word processing, computer hardware, operating systems, and basic computer maintenance.

I just hope the class is up to date because farther down in the description it says the student will learn to operate Windows 3.1. Windows 3.1!? That's what I had on my computer when I graduated from high school 14 years ago.

From the world of food and drinks to computers and circuit boards. Woohoo!!!