Red Echo

December 30, 2011

Thinking about projects for next year

When I got in to work this morning, the office was dark and there was nobody around. Google apparently considers both New Year’s Eve *and* New Year’s Day to be holidays, and since those events fall on weekend days this year, we end up with a four-day weekend. Well, okay. I did a little work but it’s hard to get much done when there is nobody around to review your code.

I’m back home now, thinking about walking over to ALTSpace to do some more work on the dress for Jeanine. I brought a muslin down to Sacramento for an in-person fitting, and it came out reasonably well. I had to add another bust dart and take in the existing one, but overall size and style worked out nicely.

I spent some of the long hours on the drive home thinking about the projects I want to work on in the upcoming year. As far as Burning Man goes, I haven’t thought much about whether I’ll go, but in any case it seems like a good year to avoid getting involved in a big project. I have a few mid-sized projects that have been rolling around in the back of my head for a few years, and this might be the summer to tackle them.

Specifically, I’m still thinking about that laser angel costume. After doing the motorcycle seat last summer, I feel confident I can handle the leather sewing involved in the armor pieces, and after a year’s worth of high-current LED projects I have some new ideas for the lighting effects. I’ve also learned how to work with laser-cut acrylic, which could add a lot of sparkle and shape to the design.

The other project vying for priority is the Playa-Time clock system. I think I would try to recruit a group to help me build this one, since it’s very much the sort of work that can be parallelized. Besides, it somehow seems fitting that a custom time zone for the playa ought to be created by a group rather than an individual.