Travel on Bald Engineer

Hamvention 2023 Pick Ups

Fri, 26 May 2023 18:49:52 +0000

The Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA) hosted Hamvention 2023 in Xenia, Ohio, on the weekend of May 19th. This annual event is the largest gathering of amateur radio operators. Sprawled across the Greene County Fairgrounds and Expo Center are commercial vendors selling gear or services, educational talks, license exams, and a massive flea market. Of the various activities, my favorite is to wander around the dozens of rows of people selling items in the flea market. For some people, this is the only reason even to attend! Here are a few of the things I picked up and plan to do some work on.

6 Electronic Safety Tips I learned while Mountain Climbing

Wed, 18 May 2016 13:00:55 +0000

Electronic safety tips from mountain climbing? Yes! After spending two weeks in Europe for work, I had the chance to spend a weekend with friends in Germany. We hiked up Kampenwand in Bavaria. While working my way through the snow and rocks, I realized mountain climbing safety tips were the same as electronic safety tips. Really! Here’s how. Grabbing a soldering iron and throwing polarized components around a circuit board is something I often do. So often, I don’t even realize I’m using some of these electronic safety tips. However, a new activity gives you a chance to exercise the safety portion of your brain. Especially when there are no guard rails.

Baldengineer at PCIM 2016

Mon, 09 May 2016 18:56:40 +0000

Do you happen to be around Nuremberg this week? If so, check out the Power Electronics Show, PCIM 2016. I’ll be floating around the show all week. Most of my time I’ll be at KEMET’s booth in building 7. The booth number is 7-302. Just ask for James. You can ask me about capacitors, electronics stuff, or just come to see that I really am bald!

Come See The Baldengineer's Presentation at APEC 2015

Wed, 11 Mar 2015 14:01:44 +0000

Supercapacitors in Transportation Applications at APEC 2015 The Applied Power Electronics Conference 2015 (APEC 2015) celebrates its 25th year in Charlotte, NC. The conference opens on March 15, 2015 and is focused on power electronics. The schedule of technical sessions range from industry experts to students presenting research papers. APEC’s exhibit floor is usually packed with every vendor in the power electronics supply chain. This is one of the largest electrical engineering shows in North America—and I’m excited to announce I will be presenting in one of the industry sessions!

CES 2015 Highlights

Wed, 14 Jan 2015 15:43:26 +0000

This is my first year attending CES. Apparently, nobody told anyone here about the death of the trade show. As an enginerd, here is my perspective. First, if you’ve never been, this show is huge. Huge. You aren’t just walking around 100 or so booths. This thing is spread across 3 different conference centers in downtown Las Vegas. With over 160,000 attendees, CES was spread across three massive convention halls. Nearly every company offering electronic products were on display. From Televisions to Appliances to Computers to Automotive Electronics to Wearables. Broken down below are highlights and pictures from the show, based on industry or application area.

Stuff from Tokyo

Fri, 24 Jan 2014 12:00:50 +0000

It’s been a little quiet on the blog because I spent the last three weeks in Asia. There’s some electronics enginerd stuff coming next week. Until then, I hope you’ll excuse this rare off-topic post. While in Tokyo I saw a number of awesome things and thought I’d share 2 of them: ASIMO at the Miraikan Museum and a dinner show at the Robot Restaurant. Click Read More to check out some pictures and videos.

RTW Blog

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:03:22 +0000

In July, I left on a trip that took my friend and I around the world. While traveling, I kept a blog of the trip at trip.cmiyc.com.We visited New Zealand and Australia during winter. After that we spent a week swimming and sunning on beaches in Bali. Then we made some quick stops to Tokyo, Bangkok, and Egypt. In Egypt, we got to ride camels and see the Pryamids. While in London, I met with another friend for a few days before visiting Budapest and Ireland. Pictures can be found on my Picasa Albums. Now that the trip is over, it is time to get back to work. :)

5000 Miles (8050Km) to Snow

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:25:40 +0000

This morning I woke up somewhere in Southern Austria.When I looked outside my window, I found a very heavy snowfall.My local colleagues tell me that we received somewhere between 50 and 60cm of snow.That is between 10 and 20ft, based on what I can see. Four weeks ago, I developed a rash (no, not that kind).My dermatologist (www.webmd.com) concluded it was a result of being exposed to extreme dry and cold conditions.In fewer words, I was allergic to Colorado.So, I moved from Colorado Springs back to Austin.Despite growing up in Northwest Indiana, which received significant amounts of snow fall and ridiculous below freezing temperatures, I am very warm blooded.After moving just 2 or 3 weeks ago and becoming acclimated to warm weather again, I found myself headed to Europe on a business trip.

Milestone: Cache named after me.

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 03:20:51 +0000

The other day I had some time between client visits, so I set out to look for a couple of caches. The cache, GCPA29, was listed as a nano cache. This was my first one. Right before giving up on it, I accidently moved it. I thought the nano cache was a rubber screw head cover. Imagine my surprise! The cache originally had no name, so I suggested “Ticker Tape!” (You’ll notice that it is now named, Ticker Tape…)