A Good Weekend

Weekend summary:

• Assembled the circuit on a breadboard--it worked!
• Went to Bishop's Arms: Belgian beers in a British pub with Swedish co-workers
• Walked around the woods to the south of town--light snowfall
• Finished assembling the circuit in its enclosure--it worked again!

Yep, it was an exciting weekend; I'm tearing it up.

No, It's Not a Bomb
As mentioned before, I'm charged up about finally getting into electronic circuits. The introductory project was to build a USB charger that is powered by a 9-volt battery. USB devices run off 5.1V, so I needed a voltage regulator, a few diodes for safety, capacitors to smooth out power flow, an LED to verify power, and a microswitch just because.

Here, you can see the innards. Really, it's extremely simple. The hardest part was getting the -ahem- wires the proper length and to stay in place while soldering. Next time, I'll use a circuit board. I used a lead-free solder and it worked very well. Nevertheless, I opened the balcony door while soldering which chilled the room down close to freezing. Numb toes are a good incentivizer for doing it right the first time.

What's next? Not sure. I have a whole week to think of something.

Bedrock
One thing I really like about Sweden is the old bedrock--something we don't have in the Puget Sound. It's first visible when you land at Arlanda Airport and take the train in to Stockholm; the underground station is carved out of it in a rough, impressive manner. There are outcroppings scattered everywhere across the land, from open fields to back yards and dense forests.

It's appearance is a stout, black-brown-red, igneous stone that bulges up through the dirt in large, weathered formations. The dirt fights for its territory, throwing moss and leaves across the rock's face trying to cover it, bury it, and wear it down. The rock is relentless, trickling out water that rinses away the dirt and leaves. The battle is timeless and it's impossible to tell who's winning.