Most of the traffic to my website appear to come from people interested in my Senior Design RFID Project that I finished back in 2008 to graduate from the University of Iowa Engineering Department.

They search fairly typical keywords: RFID, manchester, decoding, hid, hack, spoof,  125kHz or other basic parameters of RFID technology.

These key-word searches increase during the middle of the semester, when I surmise the students are scrambling to figure out how to make their OWN RFID Senior Design projects work.

It’s cool.

Recently, some guy going by sketchsk3tch on Instructables referenced my senior design project. It was VERY kind of him to add my project to his list of references, but wasn’t to happy with what he mentioned in reference to my project, stating, “School project, cool ideas, missing some details though.”

Missing some details? Like what? The entire schematic is up on that page! What more does this guy need?

Which brought me to another issue: Why didn’t he ask me for those missing details? Because, I would not have provided the REAL missing piece: The Arduino Code. Yeah, he would have “stolen” the Arduino code (the Java-like code that instructs the Atmega168 PIC we used for the project). Well, maybe he wouldn’t have “stolen” it, but I’m confident any bits he used would NOT have been attributed properly.

…and that is precisely the reason the entire RFID project is NOT up on my website. I hate leachers. Period.

As much attention my Senior Design Project seems to get from across the globe, I refrain from providing some of the critical pieces to make the entire project work. It’s self preservation.

So, to those seriously interested in my project, skim through my website and have fun. It’s for the community to enjoy. Ask me questions! I’ll answer, but don’t be surprised if I make you work at it. How else are you really going to learn?

Rockwell Automation

It’s no secret that I spent several years in the Engineering Labs of Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, who I owe much of my enthusiasm for doing so to my father.

Continue Reading »

Dr. House

Lately, I have been rather busy with LIFE stuff…and we all know how THAT goes.

Over the past few weeks, my eyes have been rather puffy and I haven’t been able to get a decent nights rest in over 6 months. So, last week I took a few days off from work and met with my Family Practioner. Following the exam, made an appointment to get some blood-work done the next day. In the mean-time, I was prescribed a rather powerful sleep-agent, Trazadone, and a Prednizone variety for the puffyness around the eyes.

Of course, I found the Trazadone to be rather effective. But, when I met with my family doctor the following week, the steroids did little to reduce the swelling around my eyes. Fortunately, the blood-work indicated that my 40-ish body was doing rather well. My cholesterol is good and my liver and kidney functions are doing fine as well. So, why the swelling? Lord only knows. My doctor made an appointment with an opthemologist next week, so hopely this all may only be allergies. In the meantime, my doctor gave me a sample of an antihistemine eye-drop that I’m supposed to take once-a-day.

Hopefully, we’ll get this all figured out.

Mom and Emmett

I finally constructed my ‘door-as-desk’ project and am now placing my belongings in a more fashionable place: my desk (as opposed to the kitchen table). However, my evening unpacking has lead me to rediscover a small piece of paper. On the folded scrap of white printer paper, I inscribed the following note:

• HR – 128
• BP – 86/46 (61)
• SpO2 – 99
• 250ml/hr

These are my mother’s, Mary Albers, (God rest her soul) evening medical stats that I scribbled during one of my many visits to the University of Iowa Hospitals. I reported them to my family in an email when I got home from the hospital.

I miss her so much.

I am a geek by nature, so I browse many geek-related websites: engadget, ThinkGeek, Wired or Switched. During the last couple weeks my kids were back with during the summer, we became fascinated with the craziest commercials we had ever seen. The folks at HowStuffWWorks released one of their first television commercials featuring the nearly impossible: a scuba-diving cat.

Continue Reading »

Well, sandbagging at the Iowa Memorial Union (IMU) has ground to a halt. Not only has Cedar Rapids been in the news, but Iowa City and all the volunteer efforts on the University of Iowa campus. I took a short bike ride around the IMU in an attempt to determine just how bad this could get. The basin area along the Iowa River is going to take a serious hit if the river rises another couple of feet. It’s not just the IMU, Main Library or the Art Building that is at risk, but the water-treatment facility along the Iowa River near Burlington. If that gets flooded, then our water supply will be seriously affected.

More pictures around the Iowa Memorial Union are here.

Well, now it’s known across that land that Eastern Iowa is in a world of hurt. It simply won’t stop raining and the land has been saturated since Spring began. Many of the farmers in the area haven’t been able to plant, as the fields have been too sloppy. Those that have planted are having to plant again. No wonder corn and bean prices are going through the roof.

The kids and I are here in Iowa City and what we’ve been watching around the Iowa River area has been awe inspiring. I just started work in Cedar Rapids and now I can’t even get to work. Not only is I-380 a mess, but the downtown area is under 2 to 3 feet of water. Since my mother went into surgery here at the University of Iowa Hospitals, my sister, Michele, and step-sister, Beth, have been in Iowa City. But, they can’t stay here forever. So, they both plan on leaving Iowa City Friday morning, but as of now, Beth can’t get back to Chicago on I-80 because it’s closed just West of Iowa City. Larry, as well as the rest of the family in Benton County, will also have a difficult trek to Iowa City, as they might close I-380 if the flooding gets worse.

Jared and I have spent a couple days at the IMU on the University of Iowa campus filling sandbags. I’m sure we’ll be shoveling sand for a couple days until this all resolves.

I found a link to a story on the current Eastern Iowa flood here.

Agent Peeps posted some pictures of her building’s evacuation in Cedar Rapids here.

More to come as the week progresses.

[Show as slideshow]