Gem1954

Like my father and his father, I am mostly just a mechanic. The machines we work with are different, but their wisdom and experiences are constant guides. My grandfather started live as a farmer then worked in transportation and power grid management for a company that used to be known as Gulf States Utilities. At various times my father worked as a painter, general contractor, repair technician for an impressive variety of equipmet and a distributor of commerical laundry equipment. Neither of them had much of a formal education past public school but they never stopped learning. They were more defined by their understanding of the systems they manipulated then by any certifications or achievements.

My name is George Eggleston. I have worked as a repair technician, oilfield product engineer, small business owner and field engineer. Working around the edges of computers is my current focus. For a paying gig I write simple scripts that manage and manipulate data to achive mostly useful results. As a hobby work with microcontrollers. These computers are much smaller and simpler and are easy to program to do simple things. I have a degree in Mechanical Engineering. That achievement was useful mostly because of what I learned in the process, but it has also been good at opening doors.

I am currently exploring the quickly evolving world of microcontrollers. The hardware and associated programing in this area has come to a point where is readily available and very inexpensive. Until recently this combination of hardware and software was to expensive and complicated for all but the most dedicated hobbyist. The Arduino changed all of that. The hardware is easy to get from a growing collection of vendors and the programming tools are free to download. This simple board builds on a collection of important open source efforts. That underlying techonology also provides a path for a resourceful individual to explore a world that was much harder to reach before the Arduino came along. I plan to record what I learn along the way with the hope that it might be useful to anyone on the same path.

Biking

I ride for recreation and exercise. Most of my riding is in the Houston, Texas area were I live. In addition to local rides I take trips on vacation to ride. In the past several years I have done the Katy Trail and the Illinois Great River Ride. This year I am doing the 2009 Katy Trail Ride sponsored by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the Missouri State Parks Foundation.

Boating

I have never met a boat I did not like, but there have been some operators that I am not very fond of. In my journey I have sailed, rowed, paddled and motored in the waters of Texas, Louisiana ,California, Connecticut and Maine. I need to work to fill some of those gaps.

Dancing

Most of the dancing I do these days is contra dance with the Houston Area Traditional Dance Society.