2010.06.22 Tuesday

Did something a bit unusual, and don't know if I really should be this open... but I skipped a shower. Trying to see if maybe I'm drying out my skin by showering too much. Also, I'll probably try switching body washes, and washing my sheets, and vacuuming soon. It seems like I have minor cases of Eczema, and it's just around my lips and eyes now. Which, I guess makes sense. Those are sensitive areas of skin; easy to start there with problems. My eyes are starting too look weird, but nobody else thinks so. When I open my eyes all they way, the way they fold into the socket feels different.

I want to fix this, but should I try changing everything all at once, or should I be scientific and only change one variable at a time? I could just switch body wash, try that for a week, and then if that doesn't work, try something else. It just sucks living in discomfort. Or I guess I could go backwards, try everything all at once, and if that works, I can start undoing some of those things until the conditions pop up again. Interesting idea...

Alright, so here's the plan. Tonight it the Tool concert, and I opted to not go to this; everybody else in the house opted-in. This is a perfect opportunity to do some aggressive cleaning in my living area. I dusted a bit of my room, did all my laundry, then tossed my sheets, pillow cases and towels in for a wash after the clothes. While the washer and dryer will being utilized, I vacuumed my room, and did a vacuum bag technique on the pillows and comforter. I have no idea if doing a vacuum bag on pillows has much of an effect on cleanliness, but I think it would still up and suck out dust particulate. As an added measure, I flipped my mattress. While the bathroom was without towels, I took some cleaners and went to work on most of the surfaces in there. The only thing of mine that I didn't bother much with is the pink chair. I hope it's not the culprit.

I'm also starting to think that sleeping right underneath the air vent probably isn't the best if I'm trying to keep my skin from drying out. Speaking of air venting, when was the last time the air filter was changed? When was YOUR air filter last changed? Remember there is one in your vehicle too.

Eventually put all my stuff back in order. Also cleared off my desk from the paperwork that always creeps up out of nowhere. Reveled in my accomplishments, then began working on the DIY guitar pedal that I only barely started.

Managed to plow through some tedious wiring. Double checked the connections, pulled out a power adapter, plugged in my amp, wired things up, flipped the switch and... well... the pass-through works. That's about it. Crap. The LED wasn't even coming on. That means power isn't getting to the circuit board at all. Guess I'll be tinkering for a while on this.

Probably should post some pictures and notes about things I figure out, huh? Maybe a fresh set of eyes can see something I can not. After debugging some, I was able to get the LED to come on and the op-amp is definitely getting its 4.5V. Things that I didn't quite understand the point of before now makes a lot more sense, and is really ingenious. For instance, the ground connection is disconnected from the circuitry if there is nothing plugged into the input jack. Here I thought they made some special jacks that flipped a switch to detect when something is inserted, but nope, it's a stereo female jack and mono male jack fitting in it. The long sleeve of the mono jack actually shorts two leads on the female jack and that provides continuity when something is plugged in.

And snooze.