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| 2 jun 2001 so that's the insides of this sound mixer that i built for my EE analog lab back during senior year.� a mixer is pretty easy to build (from an electronics standpoint)... it's just an op amp in a linear feedback mode, and the resistance is varied using some sweet lighted sliding potentiometers i got from some geek EE parts store in sunnyvale. so making it is easy, in theory.� but making it a "product" with packaging and stuff was a pain.� i had to solder stuff, wirewrap stuff, and do all this extra work to make it into a presentable product.� all in all, it cost me over $300 in tools and stuff to finish... and many late nights in my room, breathing lead solder fumes into my system. why the hell am i showing you such a dork thing like my mixer project?� because i've had it for over five years, keeping it my one of my "random" boxes.� and in the midst of moving, i've decided to throw it away.� yes.� throw away one of my beloved accomplishments. i've decided that it's time to go through my life and cut out some of the fat.� in terms of the possessions i own.� it's just too much of a pain to keep moving shit from point A to point B, all the while knowing that you'll never look in these boxes unless you were really old or something and wanted to reflect on your old days. i'm not talking about photographs.� i would NEVER throw away those.� but i'm talking those silly objects which offer a little sentimental value, but not enough for you to really care about... those things have to go.� and yes, i do feel a little sad, because ideally i'd keep _everything_ i own, but i'm just too tired and lazy to keep moving all this shit. so all i'm going to leave myself is a few digital photos of my mixer.� and it goes in the dumpster at work on monday.� *frown*� *sigh* i've made three carloads, and i've gotten out a significant portion of my stuff.� i guess my accord is that much bigger than the tiny corolla i used to drive... it took me THIRTEEN carloads in my little car the last time i moved! oh.� speaking of cutting stuff out of my possessions list, i'm going to go through my cd's and get rid of a lot of them.� i have somewhere between 600-700 cd's, and i swear, they are FUCKING HEAVY.� the bulk of them (about 500 of them), are a snapshot of my college music tastes... i accumulated roughly 100 cd's a year for five years at stanford.� it's a neat historical look at how i my musical tendencies progressed over time, but the saddest thing which makes me realize something has to go is the fact that in the nearly two years i've lived in my current place, i have pretty much left these cd's untouched... so they've basically become dead dust-gathering weight. it makes me really upset that we as humans accumulate all this stuff.� and it's not like we can give this stuff back to the earth or the environment... we buy all this shit that takes raw materials and energy to create, and then what?� they just get thrown out, and can't be reassimilated back into the place where they came from. so going with that thought... as time goes by, we just suck the earth dry of energy and resources to make all our material possessions, so inevitably, the earth is going to run out of stuff, right?� how depressing.� i wish there were like a garbage incinerator that generated electricity or something.� at least my waste would be used for something instead of piling up in a landfill somewhere. this moving thing is making me really think.� about simplifying my life.� and cutting down on material possessions.� yes, part of it is due to my laziness and not wanting to worry about all the effort it takes to move the shit.� but i also want to live out of necessity, not luxury... i don't want to own things that are just superfluous, things that i'll enjoy for a brief moment before forgetting about them. so what does that mean to you?� if you ever want to get me a gift, and you don't know what to get, just remember: a can of dr. pepper.� yummy.� enjoyable.� non-permanent.� and recyclable! today was supposed to be a big moving day.� jeremy and alan were supposed to come down and help me move my big stuff... basically my desk, futon, and tv.� and i was going to start sleeping at the new place after tonight.� but it kind of fell through, so the big move is going to take place next saturday. which is good, because that gives me a week to get rid of all the extraneous stuff on my own spare time.� also, i found out that i won't have cable tv until june 14th, so i get another free week of quality television at the old place for another week. i was reminded of just how lazy i am today.� i woke up at noon, and i went out for a smoke.� i didn't like how hot it was (even though it was NOTHING like earlier this week), so i postponed my one carload of the day and... instead, i went back to sleep.� i woke up at 4pm.� yes.� i basically slept from last night until FOUR in the afternoon.� yikes.� so much for realigning my sleep schedule back to a normal time. but i've made my daily trip to the new place.� moved all my cd's and dvd's and videogame stuff.� so i'm satisfied. slow and steady... wins the race. ok.� i'm meeting up with peter and mark tonight... gotta have dinner with peter at my favorite japanese restaurant in the land... gombei! have fun people... |