Unbelievable... (notes)
So, I'm making a home-brew [something. edited.] I had to figure out how to de-modulate the signal, so I looked up this precision-rectifier circuit online, and decided to wire it together. It was a really large circuit, and the irritating thing about circuits is, even if they are incredibly simple, you can spend hours debugging the circuit to make sure the connections are all correct. But the crazy thing is??
bum ba da dum ba daaaa!
It worked first time!
Well, almost - the rectifier part worked but I had to convert an inverting amplifier to a non-inverting amplifier farther down the signal chain. But that's peanuts, and the rectifier (the hard part) worked. Seriously, this has got to be a first, in my entire history. Anyway, I thought I'd share in my happiness, like the lady in the Bible who threw a party because she found her lost coin.
Secondly, I tried being ultra responsible and going to bed by 10:00 last night. Like normal, whenever I try something like this, I wake up around 2:00 AM, and can't get to sleep until about 5:30 AM again. In this interim, I did the following:
1. Tried to sleep for 2 of those 3.5 hours
2. Had several bowls of cereal.
3. Found my old Chinese textbook and reviewed all 400 characters.
4. Fixed my ultra-sweet new Ipod so that it plays youtube music video's in a play list.
5. Thought up a rad design for a microphone, and several ways of improving the LVDT mount
Then I fell asleep again somehow. Lesson: stay up until 12:00 AM if you want to get good sleep. Just kidding. I guess. Maybe I'll try it again for a few more days.
bum ba da dum ba daaaa!
It worked first time!
Well, almost - the rectifier part worked but I had to convert an inverting amplifier to a non-inverting amplifier farther down the signal chain. But that's peanuts, and the rectifier (the hard part) worked. Seriously, this has got to be a first, in my entire history. Anyway, I thought I'd share in my happiness, like the lady in the Bible who threw a party because she found her lost coin.
Secondly, I tried being ultra responsible and going to bed by 10:00 last night. Like normal, whenever I try something like this, I wake up around 2:00 AM, and can't get to sleep until about 5:30 AM again. In this interim, I did the following:
1. Tried to sleep for 2 of those 3.5 hours
2. Had several bowls of cereal.
3. Found my old Chinese textbook and reviewed all 400 characters.
4. Fixed my ultra-sweet new Ipod so that it plays youtube music video's in a play list.
5. Thought up a rad design for a microphone, and several ways of improving the LVDT mount
Then I fell asleep again somehow. Lesson: stay up until 12:00 AM if you want to get good sleep. Just kidding. I guess. Maybe I'll try it again for a few more days.
posted by tmm at
2:45 PM
4 Comments:
And if anybody doubted before this post, you are SUCH an engineer.
I especially liked the algorithm for a good night, which included a sweet iPod setup and a couple of bowls of cereal.
Yeah, I know... but being an engineer's not so bad. We get to work with powerful tools and make cool things.
I forget how I found your blog initially.
I do know that occasionally it's just the dose of surreality I need in my day, recognizing that there are other über-nerds out there, in different fields. Rock on.
Hi Nathan, thanks for commenting. I think you first commented on my blog when I made the obvious claim that scientists who claim we were "intelligent designed" are not given enough credit.
It's funny listening to anyone who works in a specialized field. Each field has it's own vocabulary, and you don't even realize what you've picked up, and where you are losing people when you talk to them. It makes for some interesting conversations. I love listening to my little sis' talking about her biochemistry stuff, and some of classmates from SPU for the same reason.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home