So I decided this one would be different, and I would be able to upgrade it as he ages.

It will involve RGB LEDs colour cycling, driven by an Arduino (well Atmega128/328 microprocessor anyway).

It will also have two controls initially:

1. Timing control to control the speed of the colour cycling.
2. Max brightness control (self explanatory?)

The idea is that this mobile will be self contained, and capable of running from a single 9v or 4x AA batteries, or from a wall wart, and be light enough to hang safely about a cot or crib.

Update 5th Dec 2009:

Have a working Arduino circuit using 74HC595 shift registers to control the individual colours on single LEDs.

Will try and post a circuit diagram shortly.

Update 14th Dec 2009:

Here is the circuit breadboard for the current design:

Update 7th Jan 2010:

Managed to source some balsa wood and new craft knives to make a mobile spine. Want something less boring that just a straight dowel with things hanging.

Update 14th Jan 2010:

I came up with something less boring after a Yahoo! image search browsing session, and completed the 3D draft designs for Alex's Mobile and here's what I have so far.

LEDs will be positioned upwards onto the platter above to reflect light downwards, spreading the light over the different platters, in a hopefully interesting pattern.

Above is the view looking up at the mobile.

View from front, one perspective.

View from front, different perspective.

One other thing you'll notice is that, like my reading habits, I tend to have lots of projects on the go at the same time. I'll come back to them every now and again, and then may drop them for lengthy periods (sometimes years) which frustrates my wife who tells me she is a "Completer Finisher" mentality.

That probably makes me a mix of  Plant/Implementer/Specialist

I use my shooting time as meditation time, you have to shed all of those external pressures of work and home life and empty your mind. Then you let all of your muscles relax otherwise you may skew the shot and it will end up somewhere other than the centre.

Normally after a couple of righter shots, you should be entering "The Zone" where you can normally ignore all but the most pervasive interruptions. And then repetition kicks in.

• Load the rifle into your shoulder, load a round, close the breach.
• Nestle your cheek onto the cheek piece, check the sighting on the target.
• Close your eyes, take a breath, check your sighting again, correct your aim if necessary.
• Breath slowing, slowing your heart rate, exhale and hold, slow squeeze the trigger and fire.
• Unload the empty case, and check the spotting scope.
• Rinse and repeat.

Last evening whilst down at my local shooting range this put me in mind about the similarities between being a programmer and being marksman.

First of all software developers also strive for "Flow", a mental state where all external stimuli are excluded from perception, all your mental energy is concentrated on solving the problem at hand. Some developers try and shroud external interruptions with headphones, I tend to find that distracting unless the office environment is already quite noisy.

Secondly software developers should also be in a routine, but often steps are left out. Most notably testing. I believe a software development routine should follow something along the lines of (at a bare minimum):

• Update code from source control.
• Write your code.
• Check your functionality on a local web instance if possible.
• Update your test cases or write new ones to cover the new code.
• Update code from source control.
• Run your unit tests.
• Fix any tests if needed.
• Commit code to source control with a description of change and bug number or feature identifier.
• Rinse and repeat.

With some of the above steps, the order may change, if your following Test Driven Development, then you may write your tests before you write your code, but all the steps are still present.

Much like my marksman (sorry and women) example, after a while these become instinctive and you almost forget that your doing them, but you get a gut feeling that something is wrong when they are absent.

Thirdly I find that if I stop shooting or developing of any length of time, say a fortnight for shooting or a week for writing code, I start to get an itchy brain. Something is not right and I can start to get a bit anxious.

So I rambled on there a bit and didn't really come to any conclusion. But part of the idea behind this blog is for me to brain dump and also for me to develop my communication skills.

So to try and wrap this up with some kind of conclusion, if your significant other is a software developer, don't berate them for watching TV and writing code on their laptop at the same time, or staying up until 2am working on that niggley little problem. It's an addiction and they can't help it, to make them stop is like depriving them of sleep. They won't feel right until they scratch that mental itch.

And if your significant other is a marks[man|woman], if they haven't been to the range in a while and are starting to get tetchy, maybe suggest they go have a practice at the rifle range.

My name is Andy or Bob, depending on if you know me outside or inside of work respectively (it's a longish story and the reasons should become apparent during the reading of this blog).

I live in Stevenage, Hertfordshire in England.

I'm a developer at Yahoo! in London, amateur photographer, marksman, electronic tinkerer, beer brewer and husband to my long suffering wife Lindsey.
I'm also the Treasurer of the Charity the runs our local Community Centre in Great Ashby.

We have two cats Pixel and Zero (whose full name is #000000, and yes, they are black cats, and yes I'm a big stupid geek)

The ramblings contained within this blog are not intended for any particular audience, but more a documentary for myself, so I don't forget what I've done or am working on. Did I forget to say, I have a lousy memory!

Anyway, welcome and enjoy. <waves />