I have many possible projects I’d like to work on during the winter break, but I know I won’t be able to complete all of them. Hopefully I can get a few of these done before school starts back up.

I was having trouble keeping up in my Japanese Adv Language 3060 class, so I’m going to try and review a lot of it over the break. I want to create a quick reference sheet for myself — a few pages with kanji, list of grammar patterns, and some vocab etc. I’ll also be attempting to play an import copy of Persona 4 for extra practice.

This will be hard to do, as the game features quite a few kanji I haven’t learned. I’ve already learned a couple more kanji just with context clues or listening to the dialog and comparing it to the text, so hopefully that trend continues and I don’t get too lost with the game’s story.

I’d also like to continue working on my interactive LED array. Currently, I have code that can change variables that dictate color-change-frequency and color fading working on two LED panels with 3 LEDs each. I’d like it to adjust the LED color change speed based on the tempo of the song, but that may prove difficult to do within arduino code alone — I’d like to avoid using any Processing, so that I can make this a standalone product that doesn’t need to be connected to a PC to function.

There’s a couple simpler projects I’d also like to do. One is a physical hit counter for my blog. I helped Christina set up hers, so it shouldn’t be very hard at all to get my own running by following the tutorial she found here.

The other thing I’d like to build is a simple USB station that would sit on my desk. I use a lot of USB devices and I keep my ToDoList on the thumb drive I have on my keychain. It’s annoying having to bend down to plug it in every time, so I’d like something on my desk. I’ll check out some miscellaneous project cases at Tanner’s Electronics to see if any of them would work. I’d keep it simple — probably just have my USB hub sit inside and, using cheap USB cables from monoprice, secure the USB ports to the walls of the box. I might also have one USB port come out of the station with its own cord.

My quick fix for the audio cords I had done is falling apart — I had simply used the screws to secure the wires, but I’m going to go back and properly solder them. Might use this as a chance to update the tutorial with more pictures and details.

I also need to reformat PC for a fresh start, but this time I want to make sure and create a recovery state with my most used software installed — this way, instead of starting from scratch every time I reformat, I can start with my basic needs and save a lot of time.

And lastly, I’ll be trying to work on some of my game projects. I have a few 2D games I’ve been working on, so I may try to pick one to finish over the break.