January 2022 - A Month in Review

January 26, 2022

This a review of the things I've accomplished this month. Criteria for "accomplishment": something new that I learned or something new that I tried for the first time. Both types of newness are forms of growth I think are worth celebrating!

I wrote 6 blog posts

I was always favored by my English teachers in school because I had a "natural gift" for writing. Unfortunately, the process wasn't something I enjoyed, and every essay I've ever written was completed in a last minute crunch to churn something out before a looming deadline. My lack of practice, compounded by bad habits developed from constantly scribbling sloppy Slack messages and informal emails, has severely crippled my ability to coherently string together more than a couple of sentences.

In spite of all that, I've always wanted a blog. Although it may be past its prime in the mainstream consciousness, blogging is still a mainstay method of thought leadership in the tech space, and I think everyone in the industry has tried to stand one up at some point in their life. As I've gotten older, I've also realized the personal benefits that come from the introspection required to form abstract thoughts in written ideas that others can understand. The problem: I suck at being consistent.

Although I didn't start the year off with any big aspirations about becoming a better writer, I've managed to publish simple posts at a cadence I'm proud of -- up until now, they've all been about my foray into learning basic electronics:

1. I'm learning electronics!
2. I built an LED binary counter
3. My first original project! An LED Light Scale 💡
4. Using VSCode for Arduino Development
5. Soldering Irons, Multimeters, Photoresistors -- Oh my!
6. January 2022 -- Month in Review

I finished 5 (tiny) Arduino projects

I've considered myself a specialist in software for most of my life, even before I began working professionally as a software engineer, but hardware has always been an area that I've approached with apprehension. At the end of last year, as a Christmas present to myself, I decided to purchase an introductory electronics kit and take the plunge into learning somethinig far out of my comfort zone. So far, it's been quite the adventure!

This number excludes a handful of miniature projects and experiments I created while following along with tutorials -- although those also taught me something, none of them are of my own design and most of them are too insignificant to be worth mentioning. Funnily enough, my own definition of "insignificant" has drastically evolved over the course of the month; Jordin from a month ago was immensely proud of making 3 LEDs blink in sequence (hence its inclusion here), whereas the me of today could do that without blinking ;).

The first two projects mentioned here were prescribed; they were given as "homework" at the end of a video in a tutorial series Ii was working through, and although the ideas weren't my own, they represent small milestones in my learning, as I had to figure them out without any help. The other three projects stem from ideas I came up with myself. Although all of them are simple, each one presents a significant jump in complexity from the one before it.

1. Three Blinking LEDs
2. 4-bit Binary Counter
3. LED Light Scale
4. 3-tone Music Player
5. "Simon" Memory Game

I learned to solder

Since I was already dipping my toes into the electronics pool by learning about circuits and creating small projects, I decided to wade in a little bit further by picking up a cheap soldering kit from Amazon. This was one of the biggest steps out of my comfort zone this month.

When I purchased the soldering kit, there was only one project on my mind: creating a custom cable to connect the two halves of my Moonlander split keyboard.

To get a basic feel for how everything worked, I worked on a couple of throwaway tasks; I had time to kill while waiting for TRRS components to come in through the mail. For example, I cut apart a few of the jumper wires that came with my original electronics kit and soldered them back together. I also spent a few hours taking apart one of my old mechanical keyboards, and then desoldering the switches from the circuit board.

When the cable kit finally came in, I excitedly set to making my shiny new split keyboard cable to that I could use to flex in front of my geeky friends. To my disappointment, I ultimately met failure. After several repeated attempts at stripping the cable, soldering the conductors inside to small tabs on the jack, and reapplying heat shrink, the tiny components that came in the kit I ordered were becoming brittle and falling apart. I eventually decided to harvest what I could (one end of the cable works great), and I threw the rest away.

It's reassuring to reflect on all I learned from this process:

• I learned how to use wire strippers to remove jacket from a cable
• I learned to use a multimeter to measure voltage, read resistance values, and troubleshoot issues with my wiring
• I learned to use a desoldering pump, solder wick, and flux to remove solder after making mistakes
• I learned about the different variations of common audio cables, their differences, and how to read their pinout diagrams

I've ordered another kit, and I'm optimistic that with a set of fresh components, this time, it'll be a walk in the park.

I streamed 4 times on Twitch

This was the most unexpected occurrence of the month. At the behest of my younger brother (early 20s, plays lots of video games, watches lots of streamers), I decided to stream the entire process of making my custom TRRS cable oline.

Nothing really fruitful came from doing this. No strangers followed me on Twitch. If anyone new watched me at all, they popped in and out of my stream without any participation. Any followers I got came from my brother's direct influence; after I went live for the first time, he harassed a bunch of his friends to follow me and come hang out in chat for awhile.

However, my intent with this was to try something new, not gain new followers. I learned a bunch of small things:

• how to use my phone as a camera for live streaming (in 4k!)
• how to use OBS to stream containing my current screen, live video from my tripod-mounted cell phone, and live video from my webcam all at once
• how to use an iPad for "streamer controls", making sure that I can always chat with viewers and see who is watching

I'm not sure if I'll continue streaming -- if I do, I look forward to building upon the simple experiences I've already accrued.

Wrapping up

In summary, things are off to an excellent start for 2022. I'm not entirely sure of my goals for February yet (maybe I'll update this post?), but whatever they end up being, I plan to continue being good, repeatably.