Chapman Kids Blog

"In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." –John 16:33

Tag: BeagleBone Black

The Fitbit, weekends and temptation — Is busyness the answer?

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On Sunday, July 12, 2015

In Health

Fitbit ChargeI have written here that I am a big fan of the Fitbit exercise/calorie management watch Christian and Kelly bought for me last year. I eat healthier, get more exercise and my weight continues to come down. I have been on it, since I started back, about six weeks now. My problem is that I fall off the wagon on weekends. I actually do quite well on the exercise thing, but when I am left to myself, I go get a snack in the kitchen and Lorena is queen of snacks in the kitchen. I think her fast metabolism and cooking ability are a big problem for me. She can just eat more than I and not gain weight. I am envious of that, but am what I am so need to figure out how to avoid temptation on the weekends.

So, I think maybe what I need to do is stay busier on weekends. That can be a difficult thing because after a week at the office, there is temptation just to lounge about, read books (with my bad habit of eating while I read, that is not a good thing diet-wise) and go out to eat with Lorena. So that was part of the reason I bought the BeagleBone Black yesterday. To get onto a project with a buddy so I am held accountable to finish stuff is something that might help occupy me so I do not eat so much. I have a couple of other technology projects on which I work for previous employers as an advisor, but that does not keep me away from the carbo-loading. Lorena has her garden and her school. I got nothin’! So maybe this will work. We will see.

Betty Blonde #367 – 12/11/2009
Betty Blonde #367
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BeagleBone Black with Wifi and a camera

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On Saturday, July 11, 2015

In Software, Technology

BeagleBone BlackMy buddy John from my last job in Prescott and I stay in pretty close touch. Neither of us are anywhere near retirement. He has kids still in school and I think of retirement as working when I want to work rather than actually quitting work. Are skills are complementary and we like to work together, so we decided we ought to do a demo project so that if, someday, we ever have enough money set aside we can consult. There is a good likelihood that will never happen, but it is always fun to take on side projects.

This side project involves a BeagleBone Black single board computer, a camera and a wifi link. We have a couple of great ideas about what to do with it, but want to put a ton of infrastructure in place so we can produce quality work quickly when we decide what we actually want to do. This morning, I bought a BeagleBone Black, a USB Wifi Adapter, and a 64 gigabyte microSD card on Amazon to get started. I already have a webcam we can hook up to it. I am setting up a Linux computer as a temporary server to use to archive our work–temporary because I do not have a whole lot of confidence in the computer nor the hard drive. As we start making some progress we will probably make some other arrangements.

As we make progress, I might describe some of what we are doing here so that we can have a record of what we might contribute as consultants if everything is not already completely obsolete by the time we get to doing that.

Betty Blonde #366 – 12/10/2009
Betty Blonde #366
Click here or on the image to see full size strip.

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