Sharles I - Underwater ROV

I've been working on an ROV for the last month or two.  It's based on an Arduino mega with web control (at this point).  It's been a fun project so far, and I will post some video and photos once it hits the water.

Crooked House Coffee Espresso - Ten Years On...

Back in the last millenia...
my roommate Rocky worked at the Crooked House Coffee shop in West Salem, Oregon.  He bought some ground espresso coffee as a topping experiment for ice cream.  He stored the espresso roast in his freezer, and there it sat for over ten years.  Moving from freezer to freezer in apartment to house moves.

And then one day...
Rocky arrived with his portable espresso maker, and the espresso grounds we hadn't experienced in many moons.   Some might dare to say that perhaps the finest espresso the 20th century had to offer was on display here.

And it was awesome.  Just as we had remembered it, it transported us back to a different time and place.  It was inordinately smooth, with a pronounced bean flavor (earthy vegetable).  Some might even have said it had a slight mushroom-y aftertaste.  ;-)

Space Shuttle Time Lapse

Here is a video of the Space Shuttle being readied for launch.  Very impressive, especially the Vehicle Assembly Building.  See it here at Air and Space.

Team Fortress 2, Fortrix, and Starcraft 2

Recently been enjoying the game Fortrix.  Fortix is kindof a remix of the game Qix. A fun throwaway game that has a nice retro feel.
I've also been playing alot of Team Fortress 2 in the last few months.  A fun FPS that allows the play to have different roles.  It's very similar to the original Team Fortress, excepting a new game engine, and cartoony fun graphics.
I'm also super excited for Starcraft 2 to come out, which Blizzard has stated that should happen in the first half of 2010.  What that really means it as good as anything with Blizzard's record of delaying and canceling games.  The good news is that it is in Beta, however.

Travels

 I recently read through Michael Crichton's Travels.  An interesting book detailing his travels and various adventures, and also his progression away from traditional science, towards metaphysics and New Age learning.  It's an interesting book, with a critique of the modern science mindset that is very profound.  He also has lots of interesting adventures and many involve SCUBA diving.

Spring Break vacation

  We drove down to Southern California last month, and stopped at the Huntington gardens.  They were having their annual Bonsai tree festival, so we got to see hundreds on neat Bonsai trees.  We then went to Disneyland, and it was Melissa's sister Kim's first time to visit the magic kingdom.  We then headed to Arizona, and had a wonderful time relaxing and playing shuffleboard and swimming.  We also went to Mexico for a day.  We then headed back to Idaho, to recover from out vacation!

Canon 500D

Turning thirty three years of age of recent, we piled up our doubloons and purchased a new digital camera. We went with a Canon 500D: the Digital Rebel EOS T1i. I've been hoping to get a digital SLR for the last decade, so it's exciting to get a camera with lots of possibility. Let's hope it doesn't go in the lake, like our last Canon camera. :D