Drive

     It's funny how some things in life, which at first may seem to have almost no connection, can be the driving force for or against one or the other.  Yes, I know I'm being cryptic.  I'm just musing over how family life can really push me to do better with my company.  I don't really know what it is about it, but when things go on with my personal life, I am sometimes driven to improve the work I do on my own or for an employer. It's funny how these things propel me.

So, A Few Days In

     So, I'm now a few days into writing this blog, and I'm starting to see some actual traffic.  I'm surprised that it took off this quickly.  Its nice to see that people can connect to my company this way.  On the note of power production that has been so popular on this page recently, I'm thinking of investing in a couple more of those solar cells so that I can try some more things out with power production.  I'm also going to have to find where I can get magnetic wire and a deep cycle battery.  The wire is so that I can try and build a windmill of my own for producing electricity, and the battery is for storage.  I thought of using a car battery, but even a quick search on the net revealed that this is probably not the job for a car battery.  They are used mostly for quick starts and stops, not prolonged use.  So for cost effectiveness and safety, deep cycle it is.

SUCCESS!!!

     Wonderful news!  I soldered the three solar cells together into one unit, then I bound the exposed leads to the already tested solar cell I purchased and tried out.  So as I sit here next to the window, looking down at the little test board I have, there is a little red light that is dimly glowing.  It may be dim, but this window is in the shade, so just imagine how much brighter it would glow if the solar cells were in full sunlight!  I'm going to have to try that now.  So, with that said, I'm off to experiment some more!

Tinkering

     I've been tinkering with my soldering iron today.  I walk all the way down to Dennis company and purchased some wire, then got back to Sears and found an in-expensive set of wire stripper/cutters to help along my work with the solar cells.  I'm think I'm starting to get a handle on this whole transmitting electricity thing, but I have to see it in action to make sure I'm right.  So I pulled out the solar cells and started soldering them together.  I'm afraid I may have damaged one, but such is the price for expansion of knowledge, sometimes you have to make mistakes.  If I'm right though, I should be able to fix it, if I haven't already.
     I'm still holding out hope though that I'll be able to do this.  If I can just figure out how to gather and transmit power, that's one step closer.
     Also, my wife suggested that I put Epic on hold for a while, until I have learned all the things that I need to know about how to design this game.  She suggested that until that point, I should work on other, smaller projects until I had mastered all the things that I need to know.  This discussion came as kind of a relief, because I've been worrying over this.  I feel like I can get more done now, because I can work on other things and get them done, but still work on the other project.

Wow, Learned more than I thought

So, instead of sleeping like I should, I've been up tonight studying how to build a solar power system and how electricity works.  My brain is hurting, but I think I can successfully produce 7.125w of power at peak sun, which translates into like 8 batteries getting charged at once in an hour.  The only problem with this whole thing is that if I tried to charge that many batteries that fast, they would all die.  So now I have to research how to limit my awesome little amount of power so that I don't automatically kill my batteries.
     What all of this is really getting at though, is that I'm getting baby-steps closer to being able to produce one of Digital Fruits goals, that of power production.  I understand that there are a lot of other factors that I have to calculate in like the max voltage that my equipment can handle, along with the max voltage the wires I'm using can handle, and just how I'm going to store all of this energy I plan to harness, but it just feels great to be feeling like I'm starting to get a handle on this most crucial part of our company's success.
     With that, I'm hoping that it doesn't rain, at least not very hard, tomorrow, because I may have to walk all the way to Radio Shack in Hoquiam to be able to pick up some flux that I will probably need to be able to solder the last of the little solar cells I have together.  I also have to find some hardware to house the little things, because they're fragile.  Looks like I have a busy day ahead of me then, so I'm going to go and try and get some sleep now.

So here I sit.

     I'm at something of a loss for words right now, which is a very unusual thing for me.  I'm not often one who has little to say.  I guess all that I really have to put down right now is that I had some one ask me at the store I work at how my business is doing.  Because of the constraints that have recently been placed on me by overly-cranky people, I can't talk to customers at the grocery store about what I've been doing with my business.  So I referred her to the blog here.  I'm hoping to see some response.  I'm not sure, but I'm hoping this blog will be a means to move the business along, and to help me keep my thoughts and plans for it on track.

Musing on the state of advertising

     I've been thinking a lot on the state of advertising lately, what things people respond to, what things bring in more customers.  I've just recently signed up for googles adsense, and I'm hoping that this will help with generating revenue.  And that's what got me to thinking about how advertising works.  I'm thinking of sending out a digital flier to customers who have given me their e-mail, but I don't know how effective that will be until I have a domain of my own to use an e-mail from.  It won't have the far reaching effect I hope it will if all it appears as in their inbox is the name of some random persons e-mail.
     Also, I'm wondering what the effect my fliers will have in the community.  I'm going to have to majorly amp up the number of fliers I post, but I'm hoping that this cheap and old fashioned method will still be effective for something as small as me.  Only time will tell though.

Stagnanting on a Video Game

My wife and I started on this video game project about 4 years ago now, and I have a large amount of work already accumulated towards this thing, but I think I'm losing steam. Its been weeks since I've really done anything for it worth while. I'm still committed to it, but it seems I've lost the energy I once had for these things.
I don't know, maybe I'm just worried that nothing will ever become of it, despite the fact that I've put in so much time and effort. I mean, really, four years worth of development; programming, story line, music composition, artwork(lots of artwork), character development, and background research. I've tried to find help, but not many people are really devoted to a cause that doesn't pay right off the bat these days. Several friends have helped out, but I still don't have anything close to substantial.
I will post things here as I come up with them though. Updates in the progress, maybe even some concept images and spoilers as the thing progresses. Right now it has the tentative title of Epic. Its catchy, and has seemed to have stuck, but I'm still wondering if a name change is needed.
Well, that seems to be all that I have time for tonight, so I'll sit down and write some more tomorrow. Maybe I'll have something more substantial to talk about then.

Monetary Problems

Well, things are hard right now. The money isn't really coming in, and bills are coming due. Because of the hours change at the grocery store I work at, my wife and I are amazingly short on cash. This doesn't help a fledgling business that is just trying to get on its feet, especially since I'm not taking out any loans to get this thing started. I want to be able to do this thing on my own, and to be a self-sufficient company.
But I digress. I've spent most of the day hoping for phone calls from customers, and working my tail off scrapping cents together on mturk.com. It isn't much in the way of money, but in this economy, every little bit helps.
So, in the end, I'm just a poor man chasing his dreams. Something seems sadly poetic about all of that, but I'm trying to keep my self busy enough not to dwell on things like that. As long as you keep yourself busy and productive, money will eventually come along. That's what I've always believed.
Well this has been therapeutic, so I think I'm done with this post. I'm signing off for now, talk to you later

Attempting to advertise

So, I spent yesterday afternoon walking around the mall and putting up fliers in the hopes of attracting customers to Digital Fruit. It was absolutely pouring down rain on me, but I was not to be discouraged. I will make something of my company.
I was able to hang about seven fliers, but I'm hoping that later this week I will be able to hang a lot more. I'm also handing out business cards in the hopes that people will find them useful. If any one reads this post, I'm also looking for a way to effectively advertise here in my local area. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

And so it began!

So, this is the beginning of the Digital Fruit blog. I'm starting this blog to chronicle the development of my small company as it goes from a garage tinkering to something I hope will be beneficial to the people of Aberdeen WA, and possibly much more. I know that the birth of another tech company is not anything to brag about, but I'm hoping this one will be something big, something a little different. I plan to take this thing and do a lot of good for the computing community. I want to develop software, fix computers, and to produce power for us and the community.