3D Printing Saga and Language Journal: January 22nd 2021

Honestly... I feel a little bad saying it. But COVID has been pretty awesome. I'm SUPER fortunate. I worked from home already. There are some dark spots. I really wish my daughter could be at school with her friends. I wish she could have a "normal" birthday party. And I WOULD trade the benefits I've received if they could give her those things. But, that isn't possible.

So, what has COVID done for me. Well, it has shifted our focus inward. Our travel plans disintegrated. No Japan trip any time soon. No attending our friend's destination wedding. It suddenly became cool to be a hermit and take up new hobbies. And take up new hobbies I did. It started with an Arduino kit, and then soldering, and then mixing all of that with some Raspberry Pi fun and now 3D printing and mixing that will all of the above and sprinkled with a TINY bit of CAD. I even brewed another batch of beer.

I haven't accumulated so many new skills since I was last enrolled in some form of formal education. And, it feels pretty awesome.

Out of the above 3D printing takes the cake. I had a few very small projects in mind when I started. But, I've since expanded that. Tonight I designed and printed some clips to hoist some plastic tubing over our daughters bed so we can make a fort! The other day I printed a replacement part for a piece that was broken on our air exchanger. And before that some new coat hooks.

The long term plan is to replace the broken intercom system with a self designed smart home system. Hoping to leverage the existing wiring to power some Pi Zero's which in turn will be mounted along with some 3D printed enclosures with a touch screen and some sensors.

Still working on Japanese. And still really want to visit one day. With all of the other things it is mostly in maintenance mode though.

I guess, not much else to say.