It’s hard for me to get my head around that it is already the second half of summer. The days are already getting shorter, although thankfully they are still quite long. Once again, we didn’t start a garden, and much of my time is simply spent being hot. I gotta start being more active.
That said, my time hasn’t been a complete waste. I bought myself a Softrock Ensemble RXTX kit, and have been slowly putting it together. That is NOT my handwork above, but I may not post anything until I’m done. It’s been a long time since I last soldered a delicate project and this was not a kit for a beginner. There is a surface mount Voltage Regulator IC on the back which I actually lost and had to replace.
On top of this, I’ve been playing around with a basic physics simulation. So far nothing special, just bouncing balls. I starting by using algrebratic versions of Newtons equations for motion (s = s0 + v t + 1/2 a t^2), but soon I wanted to use the calculus versions (s = s0 + integral( v0 + integral( a, t), t) instead. Even though it’s not something I use very often, it really makes me wanna freshen up my math skills. It’s been over a decade since I’ve taken my AP Calculus in HS, and Calc 2 in college was not very useful. I’ll be taking a course this fall at College Of Lake County, but I’m still thinking if I want to start with Differential Equations, or get a refresher by taking Calc 2 again.
Maybe some time at the Khan’s Acadamy website will help. It’s a truely impressive resource, especially for those who want to learn for their own purposes, and not just for an acredited degree.
Finally, today was my wife’s birthday (observed), so this was waiting for her when she woke up and was done with her breakfast in bed. It made her cry, so I consider it a success.
Good luck to you and yours at this time.
OpenShed 
It was a great birthday, observed! You forgot to mention the breakfast in bed too! 🙂