Week 12 Update

 Lots to go over! 


Labs

I couldn't get the shift register lab to work after a few tries, but I'm giving it another go before our next class and hopefully it will work. The concept makes total sense to me, so it must be a tiny mistake somewhere that I just couldn't identify. I took a break from it and got started on the final lab earlier today, and completed the first task quickly with no issues (you'll have to take my word that the light is blinking). I still don't *totally* understand what a transistor is/does, but I'm sure moving through the rest of the lab next week will help.

Projects 

Before Thursday, I was feeling stuck on ideas for project 2, mainly because I know I will simultaneously be working on my typewriter and I don't want to over commit / under deliver on either side of things. While I don't yet have any more "deliverables" on what project two could look like, I do have a potential concept that I will explain here: 
    My relationship with my dad is complicated and challenging at times, but one thing that we have consistently bonded over throughout my life is the restoration of my car - a 1974 Volkswagen Beetle. My mom bought it used in 1987, and it was her daily car until right around when I was born. It sat dormant in our garage while I was growing up, and when it was time for me to start driving, we couldn't afford to buy me a new car, and my dad is the most car guy car guy I've ever encountered, so we decided to get it running and make it mine. The gas in the tank had turned to jello and there were so many things that we spent all of high school gradually fixing, and it is honestly still a work in progress but I love it, and I love the feeling of driving it, and I love occasionally finding one of my mom's earrings from the nineties under the seats. I think there is substance in that it is a symbol of my family and how it is a new take on heirlooms being passed down. Also, I think there's a lot to be said about the father daughter relationship that it represents, both good parts and bad.
    When we were learning about motors and gearboxes the other day, all I could think about was the connections to my car and the memories I have of working on it, getting lectured about it while being underneath it, learning to drive it, etc. I have absolutely no idea what this could culminate into in terms of a project, but I would love to start here. The car lacks digital technology and offers a similar juxtaposition that I was trying to capture with the typewriter. Driving it is a purely mechanical experience and there is so much overlap with what we're learning about. 

Anyways yeah that's my brain dump, I'll continue thinking about how to take these concepts and put them into a real form. I took a break from typewriter land this week, but I will be back on top of things next week.

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