Review of 2011 + New projects!

This year has been quite interesting indeed. I've managed to complete a few projects and start up a few others.

Now that the apartment is all mine it's been great being able to actually make it so that it shows that. I've been able to turn the spare bedroom into the living room and rework the workroom into something a little different. The workroom is an ongoing project all by itself.

For more company side projects, having the workroom is going to be a blessing. I decided on doing some indoor growing of trees and other plants. I want to be able to start them up in the winter and then during the spring and summer have them grow as much as they can. I'll then winter them outside and then most likely have some that are ready to be sold. The project included purchasing a 4-shelf stand and several 6500K CFLs.

The rest was pretty much already something I had. I used the bottom containers from another project and filled them with 50% garden mix and 50% perlite. The reason I used such a mix was because I wanted quick and thick root growth. However, I didn't want to drill holes in these plastic containers so I used some styrofoam sheets and raised them off of the bottom of the container then put the soil mix on top. I purchased 75 Trident Maples from an online dealer and planted them as soon as I got them. Since it was still January when I planted them and it was fairly cold outside I didn't want to put them outside just yet. Well... that turned out to be a bad idea. Only a few days after they were planted and set up on the shelves I had they started to leaf out. I had a feeling it would happen and became a little nervous for their survival. But they have been doing great and now that the weather is finally changing and it seems we'll be getting some nice warm weather I should be moving them outside soon.Veggies were also planted and will hopefully be ready to go by planting time.

I've also been thinking about a Heli/Rover project. I'd like to design a rover that can be picked up by a helicopter and transported into areas the rover wouldn't have been able to go normally. I've not really considered a practical application outside of mapping and surveillance yet. So far I've purchased an R/C car that will serve as a basic platform for the rover element. Little did I realize how much fun the little R/C car is... So much in fact I've already damaged a few bits! Luckily parts for these cars aren't too expensive nor to difficult to replace. Soon enough I should be able to purchase the frame for the helicopter and begin work on that part of the project.

The goal right now is to have a functional prototype by the end of the year 2012. I'm hoping the summer will be a good time to get things rolling since school is taking up nearly 100% of my current time. Only two more months to freedom!