The Angry Dome

We have a Wii at work. This is very cool and progressive, but like duct tape, every good thing has its dark side. A highly competitive culture has grown around the playing of Wii Tennis, and with competition comes...yelling. People get really, really fired up.  Screams of joy, groans of defeat; each exclamation of testosterone-fueled fervor resounds throughout our office. At times of particularly fierce full-court combat, it can render development work all but  impossible.

Something had to be done.

Enter The Black Box. I have to give credit for this genius idea to my boss. The Box sits in silence on the Wii Table, exposing no clue to its activity or purpose except for a small light glowing green. But when the games heat up and the grunts and bellows begin to fly, the Box swings into action! Each "OHHHHH!" or "YES! YESSS!" causes the machine to buzz annoyingly and its light to go a menacing red.

Also, it sends one of these.

I don't know how long the Black Box will last before someone orders me to remove it or incapacitates it with a well-thrown Wii Remote. But I think it was a fun idea, and my friends wanted me to write up how it was made. So here goes. :)

The core of the box is an Arduino Duemilanove. Either building the Box was an excuse for trying the Arduino, or vice versa -- I'm not sure. Either way, I think the Arduino is a really cool platform (open source in both hardware and software) and I really look forward to using it in robotics projects once the Box is decommissioned. Basically, Arduino is an Atmel microcontroller in a convenient package, easy to program by plugging it into a USB port (the software runs on Mac, Linux and Windows). The aim is to bring computers into the physical world. And this we have accomplished.

Logan, Kadin and I worked on the hardware together. Several trips to Radio Shack were necessary, of course. We built an amplifier circuit and hooked up a little microphone to give the Arduino "ears." A nice three-color LED and a piezo buzzer were attached to form an alarm. I installed an XBee radio to let the Box share its complaints with the world via a second XBee plugged into my computer.

The software was easy: sixty lines of Arduino's C++ish code gave the Box its intelligence, along with a very short Ruby script to listen for XBee traffic and send a random tweet when a loud noise was detected.

Finally, all the hardware was stuffed into a project box (I should buy stock in Radio Shack) with holes drilled in it for the LED, sound and power, and installed as the centerpiece of the Wii Table. The radio link between the Box and my always-on office Mac was tested and found to be solid. At the time of this writing, I've been away for several hours (the office was too hot to work!) and the Box has tweeted four or five times. Raucous tennis games? Heated arguments? False alarms? I have no idea...but I am amused nonetheless.

One thing that struck me repeatedly as I put this project together is how awesome Open Source is. Without the building blocks I used to put this together (great examples of which include the ruby-serialport and twitter gems, and the awesomely simple amplifier circuit) the amount of code I wrote for the project could have run into the thousands and the project would have been impossible to fit into my busy life. Instead I wrote under a hundred lines of code, and it took part of a weekend. Truly, we all stand on the shoulders of giants. And when I move on to more complex projects (read: robots) this advantage will only grow.

BTW, if you liked reading this, please consider checking out the place that let me do it: Razoo. We aim to be the best way to find and donate to charity online. Maybe it's about time you do some good? :)

The following is for any total nerds who want to replicate or improve upon this project (please let me know; I'd be fascinated to hear about it!!):

If anyone would like me to post more technical details (such as the non-obvious steps to get two XBee 2.5 radios talking to each other) please comment or send me a message. Happy hacking!

This is what a tenth of a mile of audio, video and network cable looks like.

You know how concert halls or space shuttles are always talking about how many hundreds of miles of cable they have? Well, I decided I'd calculate the mileage on the big box of cable which was delivered today. I was hoping it would be impressive. It wasn't, really. Still though, it was fun to unpack and I'm sure it'll be even more fun to install... this weekend!

That's right – the time has finally come. My window of opportunity for wiring the "theater" occurs between the electrical close-in inspection and the hanging of drywall. The former is happening tomorrow, and the latter will begin early next week. So this is it; my one and only chance to stick things in the walls before they're sealed up for good. I'm excited and just a little bit pressed for time. The last thing I want to do is to delay the project... but I'm cautiously optimistic that I can comfortably get everything done in time.

Oh – and in my continuing quest to do things the hard way, I've increased the scope of my own project to include minor carpentry. I got worried that the in-wall speakers might not sound all that great when the area behind them was completely open and backed with concrete block and insulation foil. So I emailed tech support at the designers (Sonance), and to my amazement they got back to me...within a few hours, no less! They readily dispensed advice on the optimal size and material of a back box I could build to improve the speakers' performance. Now that's customer service.

So tomorrow, I'll be headed to Lowe's once again to pick up materials to make three such boxes. At least I get to unpack and try out the new saw!

In conclusion, here are some more exciting things that have happened in the basement in the past few days:

• The plumber came back and finished the bathroom drain, but did not fix the huge hole he created. I assume someone else is coming to pour concrete at some point.
• A joint between old copper and new PVC supply line sprung a leak and required my mom to intervene using a handy bucket.
• The plumbing inspector was nice enough to treat us to a half-hour-long diatribe on illegal immigration and its deleterious effects on our county.
• My electrician friend came back to run outlets to two of the cutouts on my recessed boxes. This is going to be so slick, f'realz yallz.
• I bought a low-priced, low-sized, high-awesomeness subwoofer. Uhn tss uhn tss uhn tss...

If anyone wants to come help me with my construction and cable routing this weekend, let me know. ;) I'll provide your beverage of choice!

Please don't ask me why, because I don't fully understand. I am, however, happy for her! The bigger mystery, however, is why they chose to brand this particular unit with such a grand moniker as TOTAL TOILET ENSEMBLE. Surely the mere inclusion of a wax gasket and a seat shouldn't warrant the bestowal of such a regal honorific. Maybe they just should have called it a "throne."

All of these bathroom fittings were purchased because the plumber arrived on Friday and began tricking out the bathroom with all manner of piping, and will be returning Monday and Tuesday to finish the job. He'll also be completing work on moving all of the pipes which ran below the ceiling joists up and out of the way of the drywall (coming soon!) But by far the most amusing job he had to do was this:

Until you've seen a 90-pound dude grab a jackhammer and make an enormous hole in your foundation, you ain't seen nothin'. The kids thought it was cool that they could see the dirt under the house. All of this is being done to move the toilet rough-in from its current location (on which mounting a toilet would be nigh on impossible) to a much less ridiculous one. Yeah, I'm so glad I'm not a plumber.

In contrast to plumbing, I find electrical work very appealing. This is mainly because unlike water and sewage, electricity rarely leaks through junctions in its conveyance to form a giant puddle on your floor and ruin your fancy things, house and life. So I was very happy when Josh (the electrician) called me on Friday morning to have a nice conversation about low-voltage wiring and recessed outlets. Our original goal was to mount an LCD TV on the wall without having a bunch of ugly wires strewn everywhere. Somewhere along the way this ballooned into the commissioning of a pretty fancy home theater system, slick but with a firm grasp on budget realism. At the risk of counting chickens in the pre-hatching phase, I want to say that we've succeeded.

On Friday, I placed an order at monoprice.com for over $200 worth of cables for the system. This sounds like a lot until you realize that the same cables at a big box store would have cost more than $1,000! The next day, we picked up the rest of the equipment and spent a few hours geeking out over it. This is the first time I've been able to design a new setup before the walls are even put up...and it's a real treat!

These are two of the three Leviton recessed boxes which I installed today. This pair goes behind where the A/V components will be, and the third one is located up on the wall behind the TV. As soon as the high-voltage wiring inspection is done, I'll be running cables between these locations in-wall and terminating them in some very cool panels that fit into the rectangular holes you see. The idea is to keep all wiring out of sight. It'll look very slick – you'll see!

Also in the walls (and ceiling) will be five speakers... this house's first surround setup. I think it's safe to say that we're going to have a lot of fun with this. :) We'll need to have a party or something when it finally comes together.

That is, after we take care of a few minor details like plumbing, wiring, lights, walls, a floor...

I didn't even think I ran red lights. But the photos, courtesy of the Montgomery County Department of Police, tell a different story! While they call it a "public safety program," it's clear that this is merely a fundraiser – paying the citation "will not affect your driving record," "no points can be assessed" and "it will not raise your insurance rates!"

A program requiring little manpower and resulting in the influx of hojillions of dollars. Sounds great for the Department. Although, I'm sure they must be paying a mint to the geniuses who developed an end-to-end system for recording, issuing and paying citations from the intersection to the mail to the web. I have to admit that their system is pretty slick, even if it is very "Web 1.0" and written in ColdFusion. ;)

P.S. Yes, I drive a Stupid Useless Vehicle. At least most of the time it is filled to capacity with kids, bikes, IKEA furniture, etc... and I'm not "that guy" driving all by himself in a vehicle that gets 18 miles to the gallon. (Aright.... well maybe sometimes...:/)

In short, we all enjoyed ourselves quite a bit. The weather was great, the trail beautiful and the interesting terrain kept us amused. We saw precious little fauna, but the flora was pretty cool – the kids became very interested in moss and fungus, and Logan even schooled me on the taxonomy of living things.

We'd picked up a map at the beginning of the trek, and the kids took turns carrying the GPS and keeping the rest of us informed of our speed and distance traveled. Peyton tried her hand at orienteering by matching our track log on the GPS' screen to the paper map. She did great... and I love hearing my kids say "this is so cool!!" :)

The day wasn't without its minor hitches, however. Kadin decided to take his backpack off and lay down on it, smashing some of the bananas meant for dinner. Bug spray would have been a good idea. Oh, and we did run out of water about 3/4 of the way through the walk. Oops.

And by the way, don't believe the park's map when it says the trail is 2.5 miles long. Near what we thought was the end of the walk, the kids were very excited that we'd supposedly managed to find our way all the way back to the car. But a few tenths of a mile before we were meant to arrive, I started to notice that there was no way we were going to make a circuit; the ends just didn't meet up. The GPS agreed - the car was still 0.6mi away (as the crow flies). Schwuh?!

Somehow, this last half of a mile was all uphill and by far the rockiest segment of the trail. Carson and Logan were starting to wind down, and our whole party was getting very hot and sweaty. But with the promise of A/C and cool drinks just a few thousand feet away, we managed to make it there with a minimum of whining. And in the end, everyone was happy we went hiking today... and we're excited to do it again soon!

On a completely unrelated note, you might be wondering (but you probably aren't) what is up with the basement. Well, since you didn't ask, things are progressing well. Framing has been completed, and electrical wrangling has begun. I'd love to start installing the minor low-voltage wiring I want to do for the TV/stereo, but I'm not sure whether I'm allowed. The last thing I want to do is get on the bad side of an official inspector person, so I'll hold off until I can get an answer from the electo-man. Now, here are a few pictures to satisfy your inhuman lust for basement photography:
P.S. An update on Amy: She ended up in the E.R. on Friday with a pretty serious infection of one of the lymph node biopsy sites under her arms. It was pretty scary, but she's now on antibiotics and is on the road to recovery. Thank you to everyone who sent her good wishes, directly and through me. Your thoughts are very much appreciated...

On the Apple TV, renting a movie means that the machine "calls home" when you hit Play, in order to start a 24-hour clock. Once that clock expires, the movie shuts off, whether you are done with it or not. Ordinarily, these are terms I can live with. I knew that there were theoretical problems with it, but none of them had ever bitten me personally. Until last night, that is.

Amy and I had a housewarming party to go to in Rockville, and my mom had graciously agreed to stay home with the kids. Before we left, I went through the iTunes catalog with the kids and we picked two movies to download. This way, I thought, they'd be available for everyone to watch together in my absence.

Then, things went terribly, horribly wrong. (cue dramatic music sting)

A little after I left, the aging cable modem gave up the ghost, leaving the house Internet-free. No big deal... the movies are already downloaded, right? But thanks to DRM, when my mom went to start one of the movies, the Apple TV had to do its "call home" ritual.. and without Internet access, there was nothin' doin'. The kids, hoping to be entertained with giant armored bears and the like, got naught more than an error message. Though the movies were on a hard disk only feet from the TV, they were locked up by Digital Rights Management and playing them was not an option.

Makes me think! What kind of a sucker am I?

Recently I fulfilled every mother's dream by raising the white flag, packing up and moving back into my childhood home. Only, I went ahead and exceeded all expectations by bringing a horde of children along with me (well, at least half of the time). Truly, many a son would be ashamed, irritated and/or depressed by this development...but it just so happens that my mother is an completely amazing person, and she's made my life back at home an absolute pleasure.

We came to visit here once nearly every week since I left home about a decade ago, so the house is definitely used to the pitter-patter of little feet. But three-and-a-half days a week is a bit different than one, and it has become clear that the kids need a space where they can stomp around without bothering anyone, or do homework in peace...and we need more room to store food! Thus, the great basement remodeling plan was born.

I think my mom has been toying with the idea of fixing up the basement for a while now. Many of the houses in this area have finished basements, and it does seem to significantly increase the value of the home. The kids, however, have proven to be the catalyst to get us planning, investigating contractors and ultimately plunking down the big check. (I believe the preferred fiduciary term for this amount of money is "a shitload").

An incredible amount of junk had been collected in this basement over the years, and it had only gotten worse as I moved more stuff down from upstairs to make space for the kids' bedrooms. I wish I had a picture of said garbage, but unfortunately I lacked the foresight to take one. Nevertheless, the first step in our grand scheme was to rid ourselves of this menace. To that end, these fine gentlemen were instrumental in the removal of many a piece of outmoded cabinetry or old stereo equipment. Two truckloads, they hauled away! Good people, though again not cheap.

Next, we drew a rough floorplan (above) in Google SketchUp – yay for great free tools! The "wood" area represents a living space and a bathroom, the dark gray zone on the left is unfinished storage, and the lighter square in the middle is HVAC equipment and plumbing. Next, we looked into contractors and eventually settled on these guys, who

have so far been incredibly professional and great to work with.

Last weekend I bought a handtruck at Lowe's, and the kids and I merrily took up the task of moving all the remaining items in storage down there to the "unfinished wing," making room for the workers to start this week. The work commenced on schedule Wednesday and has progressed quickly. Permits have been applied for and framing has enclosed the HVAC area, bathroom, and formed a partition between the finished and unfinished areas.

One cost-cutting measure we took was to delegate the task of installing laminate flooring to me. I've done it before and I think I'll enjoy doing it again; Logan and Kadin have even told me they want to help! While at Lowe's, I also picked up an inexpensive miter saw to help in this endeavor. Unfortunately, it'll be weeks until I can open it up and get started!

My other responsibility is installing any home theater/audio/video wiring we decide to run before the walls get covered up. I have no idea what shape that is going to take yet, if any...

What follows are a few pictures of the framing so far. I plan to post updates of the job as it progresses, and the entries will get more exciting when we actually start doing some of the work! I know the kids are going to love this space when it's done, and so will we. I have to take this opportunity to say that I'm humbled by the sacrifices my mother is making in order to accommodate us here. If you ask her, she'll say that it's no trouble at all and that she's thrilled to be able to provide for us. But that doesn't mean I'm not allowed to be absolutely bursting with gratitude for all she's done for us and all she's doing now. I took my life on a crazy-ass tangent, and if it weren't for her and the person she is, I don't even want to think about where I'd be.

So, thank you. :)