Well it has definitely been quite some time since I wrote up a post. It even took me a while to remember the password to log into my blog. Having three kids apparently really cuts down on the time to blog. I'm hoping to start making more of an effort to post something on a regular basis. I've gotten into several interesting hobbies and have been busy at work solving problems so hopefully those things will unfold into some interesting blog posts. (Do people even blog anymore?) I'm still an independent contractor and even though on my current contract I was brought in as a .NET developer my job has really morphed into a problem solver or MacGyver as I call it. I've had some interesting projects including figuring out how to talk to some machinery via a canbus (and deciphering a lot of hex values) along with a system of Raspberry Pis all across the globe running Windows 10 IOT. I've also put together several Android apps for a client. Needless to say I work on a variety of things which I like and find it hard to call myself solely a .NET Developer. As for hobbies, I've been dabbling in a lot of different things that span the spectrum of topics. I have always been very interested in hardware and electronics so after building a respectable workbench, I have filled it with a soldering iron and drawers of electronic components. I recently added to the workbench a 3D printer in order to build respectable enclosures for my "research and development" department.

At the other end of the spectrum I have been working on my own aquaponics system in order to grow a small amount of vegetables inside. It was a very interesting build and I learned a lot about construction, plumbing, biology, and chemistry.

I will have to admit that I am notorious for starting a project and not finishing it so I was quite happy with myself when I completed this little functioning ecosystem. Unfortunately, after several months I have yet to eat anything that has grown in it, except 3 leaves of some random plant that definitely was not romaine lettuce. (As a side note, pay attention to where the seed comes from that you are buying off Amazon. Skip the stuff from China.). I'm still alive though and I hope to have the system providing us with some lettuce and maybe even some cherry tomatoes this coming winter. Until then at least the 4 goldfish are happily swimming around. Anyways, if anyone is actually reading this blog or randomly comes across it then you can expect to see any one of these upcoming topics appear in a post as this blog begins to evolve in the coming months.