General Update
Jan. 22nd, 2018 09:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormdogI never wrote about the cuddle party I was planning to attend a couple of weeks ago. It's because I didn't manage to attend it. I was sure it was on a Sunday. I arrived that morning with hot cocoa mix and hummus and chips to share. I was wearing my new pajamas and even was feeling brave enough to put my hair in pigtails. But I was a day late. The organizer came out to meet me and give me a hug anyway, which was really nice of zir. Zie said I could use my ticket for another event instead, but the idea of trying to arrange that in advance makes me anxious and I'll just buy another ticket for the next event I want to attend, which is at the end of February. My therapist asked whether I thought it might be an unconscious way of avoiding a potentially stressful event. Maybe I suppose; I don't know. It's worth thinking about, which I think is the point of such questions. I'm feeling anxiously optimistic about the next one, and I'm proud of myself for being brave enough to have tried to go.
I also have a draft version of the personal ad that I was thinking about writing. I need to incorporate some helpful advice, and then I really may post it somewhere.
My dad's sister in Texas died recently. We didn't know about her until a few years back; my grandmother gave her up for adoption before my dad was born and never told him about her. She found my dad and got in touch, which made him really happy. He loved having a sister, and her death is hard for him. I only met her twice in person and didn't know her well, but I will miss both her, and her presence in the lives of those who cared about her, especially my dad.
This past weekend, I packed up my bag of electronic parts and drove out to visit Posi. I watched him solder parts together while I located and handed them to him, feeling a bit like a surgeon's assistant. Watching him work makes me feel a lot better about doing some assembly myself, and I plan to do more work on my project this week. First, though, I want to pick up some desoldering braid in case I screw up. There used to be a Radio Shack a few blocks away in downtown Evanston, but they've been closed for months. And of course, when they were having their going out of business sale, I wasn't interested in electronics work so I missed a chance to pick up bunches of stuff on the cheap. The closest one left is way out in the southwest burbs, so I may drive up to Kenosha this weekend to visit both my family and the Chester's Electronic Supply. I adore that place, and am happy to support them anyway. I guess I could try American Science and Surplus too; I don't know if they carry that kind of thing. Their catalog has kits including solder and braid with an iron, but I don't see it by itself.
Posi finished the power regulation section of my ESR meter, which takes around 12VDC through a jack and provides +5V and -5V internally. And it lights up an LED to show it's on, of course! I loved his trick of grabbing wire with a loop of fishing line pulled through a hole in the board, then pulling up tight against it. He made the common ground connection for several components using one wire that way and it looks nice and tidy.
I also have a draft version of the personal ad that I was thinking about writing. I need to incorporate some helpful advice, and then I really may post it somewhere.
My dad's sister in Texas died recently. We didn't know about her until a few years back; my grandmother gave her up for adoption before my dad was born and never told him about her. She found my dad and got in touch, which made him really happy. He loved having a sister, and her death is hard for him. I only met her twice in person and didn't know her well, but I will miss both her, and her presence in the lives of those who cared about her, especially my dad.
This past weekend, I packed up my bag of electronic parts and drove out to visit Posi. I watched him solder parts together while I located and handed them to him, feeling a bit like a surgeon's assistant. Watching him work makes me feel a lot better about doing some assembly myself, and I plan to do more work on my project this week. First, though, I want to pick up some desoldering braid in case I screw up. There used to be a Radio Shack a few blocks away in downtown Evanston, but they've been closed for months. And of course, when they were having their going out of business sale, I wasn't interested in electronics work so I missed a chance to pick up bunches of stuff on the cheap. The closest one left is way out in the southwest burbs, so I may drive up to Kenosha this weekend to visit both my family and the Chester's Electronic Supply. I adore that place, and am happy to support them anyway. I guess I could try American Science and Surplus too; I don't know if they carry that kind of thing. Their catalog has kits including solder and braid with an iron, but I don't see it by itself.
Posi finished the power regulation section of my ESR meter, which takes around 12VDC through a jack and provides +5V and -5V internally. And it lights up an LED to show it's on, of course! I loved his trick of grabbing wire with a loop of fishing line pulled through a hole in the board, then pulling up tight against it. He made the common ground connection for several components using one wire that way and it looks nice and tidy.
