Category: Other Projects

A: This patch came from Shenandoah National Park (in Virginia), which is another National Park Lori and I drove through during our road trip to Texas while moving. The Skyline Drive through Shenandoah is something everybody should experience.

B: This Palico came with the copy of Monster Hunter 4 Sean and I bought for the New 3DS. I am really enjoying Monster Hunter 3, so I stuck the pin on my backpack. No deeper story behind this one. :)

C: I got this patch from Cafepress when I started feeling less than ridiculous on the ukulele. I should practice a lot more than I do, but at least the little skill I have hasn't faded. This summer I plan to finish the Tenor size ukes I've been building (I've already built several Soprano-sized ukes). Hopefully that will convince me to start practicing more consistently again.

D: I got this one at the same time as I got the AMC patch in the last post. During the Great Depression, the CCC built a lot of the trails and shelters that have helped get me addicted to hiking - so I really appreciate their efforts.

E: Carter Notch Hut is one of the High Huts maintained by the AMC in the White Mountain National Forest. The Huts provide a dinner, breakfast, and a bunk. They are a great way to do some longer-distance hikes without having to pack in all of your overnight gear - which also means they are an easy introduction to backpacking for those who are new to the idea. Carter Notch Hut is one of my favorites.

F: This patch was handmade by someone on Etsy, and is a reference to one of my favorite books - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams. Douglas Adams was my first introduction to dry British wit, and that sort of humor has always tickled me to this day. He passed before his time, and is greatly missed.

G: Galehead Hut is another of the AMC High Huts, and is one of the most remote. I plan to return to Galehead this summer, as my trip there last summer was all rain, all the time. It was still a great trip, but the guys I was with missed out on the amazing above treeline ridge walks near the hut. Here's to better luck next time!

A: This is one of my oldest patches - it's for the AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club) which maintains all of the hiking trails and huts I use in the White Mountain National Forest. I think they changed their logo last year, so someday this patch will be an antique! :)

B: This patch is the logo for the Raspberry Pi, which is a single-board computer that can run Linux, and only costs about $25. I use them in many of the projects I've posted on this blog - including the Pandora Radio, the Emulation Station, and the RPi Photo Booth.

C: This patch is the logo for the Arduino, which is the *other* single-board computer I use on my projects. The Arduino is lower-level, and doesn't have an operating system. It makes some things easier to do than the Raspberry Pi, and some things are harder. So they are each better suited to different projects.

D: This waving robot is the mascot for Adafruit, the company that I get most of my parts from for all of my electronics projects. They've got tons of components for sale, plus oodles of tutorials and example projects for everything they sell.

As promised, here is part one (of five) of the walkthrough of the patches on my backpack. Feel free to ignore these posts if you find them a little too self-indulgent - they are really more for me than for anyone else. :)

A: The first patch ever applied to this backpack, when I left home to go to college. I can't remember where it came from, or why I picked Underdog. But hey - it's Underdog! What's not to like?

B: I picked up this patch when visiting the Great Smoky Mountains National Park with Lori. We had been married less than a year, and we were moving from New Hampshire to Texas. Instead of just racing down there on boring interstates, we decided to make a roadtrip out of it. This was one of our favorite places that we visited along the way. Lori climbed to the top of the observation tower on Clingman's Dome (my vertigo kept me from following), and it was this park (and Shenandoah in Virginia) that really turned me on to the awesomeness of road-tripping in general.

C: Greenleaf Hut is one of the AMC high huts in the White Mountain National Forest. Greenleaf is on the slopes of Mt. Lafayette in Franconia Notch. I visited this hut on the third day of a backpacking trip through the Pemigawasset Wilderness. I'd like to eventually visit each of the high huts - I am currently at five out of eight. I still need to get to Lakes of the Clouds, Madison Spring, and Lonesome Lake.

D: Clingman's Dome was the mountain I mentioned earlier, in the Great Smoky Mountain National Forest.

E: This is a button of a favorite shirt of mine from high school. I found it again last year while cleaning out some boxes in the attic. It was mixed with a bunch of other old keepsakes, some of which I can't remember why I saved.

This year this backpack turns twenty. I've been putting patches on this since the beginning, but have only recently realized that I've never mentioned it here on the blog. So I'm planning to do a series of post where I walk through the patches that I've added to it over the years. I realize that this is an extreme case of self-indulgence - but hey, isn't that what blogs are anyway?

This is a stop-motion video Sean made with a friend at a LEGO-themed birthday party today.

Just another bit of 3D-printed silliness - this design also came from Thingiverse. He stands about six inches tall, and his arms and legs move just like a real LEGO minifig. I still need to make him a felt cape, but he looks pretty good even without it.

Sean's favorite Christmas present was a quadcopter with an on-board camera. He used it to make this video as he flew it around the yard.

Sean made another time-lapse/stop-motion video with the camera on his 3DS. This time he recorded himself building a LEGO firetruck kit he got for Christmas.

I recently printed this poseable action figure, which now holds my mechanical pencil at the ready. The design came from Thingiverse. She (at least she looks like a "she" to me) stands about a foot tall.

Sean built all three of these LEGO creations. From left to right they are Pikachu, Burger Mario, and Link.