March 2025

Housing

Over the course of February, we finished unpacking everything in the living areas of the house and have gotten settled in to the new place. We were able to host friends for the first time mid-month in February which was a great feeling.

Late February in Calgary saw a very rapid thaw after a long cold snap which managed to loosen the eavestrough on the east side of the house, so one of the first impromptu repairs was erecting some scaffolding to reach and secure it again. As expected it was two hours building and tearing down scaffolding for a fifteen minute repair.

I have a bunch of small jobs around the house to get to in March, but nothing too major planned.

Synth Building

Late in February I started designing the circuit for the Melodic Orchestration module I’m building, but realized that there’s enough new techniques that I should slow down and do some prototyping before I move to designing circuit boards. The new designs which I’ll be using in Melodic Orchestration that I need to prototype in March include:

• Using a bare microcontroller in the circuit
• ISCP / FTDI programming of said microcontroller
• A new CV input handling circuit
• Using an onboard buck / boost power converter on the module
• MIDI in and out
• Using multiple I2C devices (display, storage, DAC)
• Scaled inputs and outputs for velocity control

Game Design

As I continue reading The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses by Jesse Schell, I realize that my initial concept was woefully inadequate, which is a blessing and a curse. It’s good I didn’t rush a half baked idea into reality, but at the same time I feel a bit overwhelmed by the task of conceiving of a better idea.

I’m going to keep reading, learning, and hopefully inspiration will strike at some point in the near future with a more workable idea.

Outdoors

In February I entered a team into the Beltline Bonspiel and somehow managed to eke out a second place finish despite my personal lack of talent. This confirms what I learned at the Ironman Bonspiel, bad ice is the great equalizer as it handicaps professional players quite effectively.

In March I want to spend some time researching and planning some hikes for the season so I have a rolodex of outings ready to go when I have the time or opportunity.