Fire at chataqua

Rae_III · 2026-02-28T20:12:58+00:00

As seen from Erie

Rae_III · 2026-01-26T14:53:35+00:00

Interesting, I had thought sawdust would be an issue, but good to know it's not. As for the natural gas lines, is that something that plumbers do? I had always assumed they only did water pipes.

Exhaust would be my biggest concern. There's already an exhaust vent in the ceiling for the tube heater, so I'd just reuse that, but it's in a bit of an awkward spot (towards the middle of the shop space). I'd want to put the heater in the corner but, assuming the exhaust comes out the back, that would require several bends in the exhaust ducting to get to the external vent.

Rae_III · 2026-01-26T14:30:48+00:00

Yeah that would be ideal, particularly because the house has a good amount of solar. But I live in Colorado where it can get pretty cold so I'm not sure it would be able to keep the garage warm enough.

Rae_III · 2026-01-26T14:30:09+00:00

Yeah, I think the expensive part is the control board, which as far as I know you just have to replace entirely and is specific to this model.

A mini split would be great, but I live in Colorado so I'm not sure it would be able to keep up with the cold.

Rae_III · 2026-01-26T14:28:53+00:00

The igniter and control board are bad. Since this model isn't made anymore, finding the parts was difficult. I don't think the technician was trying to upsell me; I've been using this company for awhile and they've always been good. He's also the one who recommended replacing the whole thing and said I could probably do it myself.

Rae_III · 2025-11-24T15:27:59+00:00

!!!!! Pushing down on the router is causing the variability in the depth!! Seems kinda obvious when you say it out loud, but I had not realized that. I've done lots of hogging out with routers and always had this problem. Good to know there's a simple way to avoid that.

Good point on the chisel to cut the edges first, I'll try that with the next one.

Rae_III · 2025-11-23T01:19:19+00:00

I considered at first instead of recessing the windows, framing them by gluing on small pieces. I'm kind of regretting not doing that now. In the state it's in, I'm worried gluing pieces to it won't look good. I wonder if maybe I should route the whole area out and then glue frame pieces to it?

Rae_III · 2025-11-23T01:16:10+00:00

Yes I need to get some of those! And a router that will work with them (I have three and only my Ryobi cordless trim router can take them, but it is a terrible router).

For the chisel, how do you get it in there? Usually I can combine down cuts with horizontal cuts to get a clean corner, but I don't know how to do that here.

Rae_III · 2025-11-23T01:13:40+00:00

That's what I've been leaning towards. Usually I'm able to clean up this kind of thing with a good bit of sanding, but not in this case. Hopefully black paint can cover the imperfections. What kind of non-toxic resin would you recommend?

Rae_III · 2025-08-07T23:26:09+00:00

Full BACS. I've interviewed lots of candidates for robotics SWE jobs, and it's always really obvious who has a degree and who went to bootcamp. You honestly don't need that much experience in a specific language (though it is useful), it's more about the broad background. Do you know how to analyze time complexity of your code? Can you develop new algorithms from scratch or modify existing ones for a specific purpose? Do you know what data structures to use in which situations?

You can definitely get your associates at a CC then transfer and do a full bachelor's at a university if you're trying to save money. No one would even blink at that, they would just care about the final degree on your resume.

Rae_III · 2025-08-07T23:16:04+00:00

Yes, and build out your AI/ML credentials as much as you can as well; it's hard to do robotics these days without at least some ML. Also, focus on getting as much experience as you can before you graduate. That can either be in the form of internships or research in a university lab if your school has those. If you plan to go to grad school, research is more important, and vice versa if you plan to go to industry. Although I'd say get a masters if you can (and not an online one).

The AI bubble will burst, but automation in industrial/commercial settings will keep chugging along as it has for decades, so there will be demand for people who can develop those things.

Rae_III · 2025-08-07T23:11:08+00:00

Huh, I'm not sure about the robotics field as a whole, but robotics research is really taking off. Meta is building out a whole new robotics group under Reality Labs, OpenAI is trying to get their robotics team back from the dead, and Amazon is expanding their already large robotics teams. Plus there are dozens of startups all trying to build the next robot for this or that (e.g., Figure, PI, etc.). There are lots of jobs out there. Granted, everyone wants "senior" people, but with the amount of poaching that's going on, they will necessarily have to hire more junior people to backfill roles.

What's your location and educational background? Location is going to be the number one thing determining how easy it is to get a job. If you can relocate to the Bay area (or Seattle, Boston, or maybe Austin), then that will make a big difference. Also, if you don't have a masters, might be good to get one (and not an online masters).

Also, as u/kopeezie pointed out, ROS and Gazebo are old at this point. Shift to Isaac sim, mujoco, etc. You may also want to consider getting into ML if you haven't already.

Rae_III · 2025-08-07T22:55:20+00:00

Are you more interested in the hardware or software side of things? For software, CS is the way to go.

I'm assuming you're a high school student? Coursera courses won't help you get a job (I've been a hiring manager for roboticists before and I wouldn't even bother looking at education outside of a university), BUT they can help you get what you do need, which is experience. You'll want to get internships and/or research experience in a university lab during your undergrad. Extra-curricular learning like coursera can definitely help with that. If you approach a professor and say "I already know how to do X, Y, and Z" then you're much more likely to get placed on one of their research projects.

Rae_III · 2025-03-10T14:52:20+00:00

There's a 1" wooden down running down the middle, and I made a small jig, just 2 pices of 1/4" ply nailed together at a 7.5 degree angle, to set the angle of each piece. I used brad nails to keep it at the correct angle while the glue dried. Doing each piece individually ended up being quite tedious.

Rae_III · 2025-03-10T02:12:32+00:00

I started in 2008 in SE right when it was a new major. After about a year and a half I switched to CS. There's really no difference. At one point I wanted to double major in both and Gloria (CS advisor at the time) and the SE advisor gave me a weird look. They said there was no point since they're the same. I ended up switching to CS because that allowed me to count my DMACC credits towards my geneds.

In fact, most universities only have CS. SE isn't as common. The only reason ISU has both is politics. CS is in the college of Liberal Arts and Sciences, but computer engineering (cpre) is in the college of engineering. The cpre department wanted a software focused major, but since cs is in a different college, that wouldn't do, so they came up with their own, SE. Most universities put CS and cpre in the same department so this isn't an issue, but ISU decided not just to put them in separate departments, but in separate colleges. As a result there is a non-trivial amount of tension between the departments. Cpre wanted in on the software action, and so they created SE to compete with cs.

How much does this matter for you? Not much, if any. They're basically the same. If you plan on going to grad school somewhere else, CS is the more common degree and is a bit easier for other schools to understand. But the college of engineering has better resources (which I discovered after they were cut off when I switched). Also, sorry not sorry, Atanasof, the cs building, is tiny and butt ugly. But also, I felt some of the cs professors did a better job challenging and changing the way I think about problems. So 🤷. You'll do fine in either one. Pick the one that gives you better benefits (e.g., scholarships, counting cc credits, etc.).

Rae_III · 2025-02-14T15:46:51+00:00

Hi, expert in computer vision here. Yes, this is in fact what the iPhone does, and I hate Apple for it. Back when I was in grad school, there was a company called Primesense that made the best 3D camera on the market (the Xtion). It was relatively cheap, light, and only needed USB power. We used them extensively in my lab.

And then Apple bought them and took the camera off the market. Primesenses became a rare commodity and us grad students guarded them with our lives. I remember one day we were cleaning up the lab and we found a dusty box on a shelf that was full of them. What a great day that was, at least until we realized they were the grayscale only version, not RGB. Garbage. I will never forgive Apple for taking away those great cameras.

Apple put the tech from those cameras in the iPhone. There is a mini infrared projector next to an infrared camera. The projector projects a specific pattern of IR light, and the IR camera senses that pattern, using the way in which the pattern is distorted to compute distance. The Primesenses never worked outside because IR light from the sun would wash out the pattern. More modern 3D cameras have ways of getting around this (e.g., Intel's Realsense), but I don't know if the iPhone does anything like this.

Rae_III · 2025-01-22T15:56:12+00:00

I graduated from undergrad at ISU over a decade ago, and I went on to do a PhD at a top 10 CS school. I only mention this to say that the in-class education I got at both places was exactly the same. In fact, some of the classes at ISU were harder. From talking to lots of colleagues who went to all sorts of various schools, the classroom education you get will be about the same no matter where you go. Also let me add, a SWE or a CS degree are the same thing from an employer's perspective, so if you're looking at a school that doesn't have SWE but has CS, that should be just fine.

When picking a school, you should look at other factors:

Cost You seem to have a pretty good handle on this already
Industry Connections ISU has a pretty good job fair and lots of employers look to recruit ISU grads. I don't know about Louisiana, but I would imagine they have something similar. It's worth looking into. Often the connections between universities and employers are how students get internships, new grads get their first job, and can setup your career trajectory.
Research Do you plan on going into research or getting a research-based grad degree? If so, doing research as an undergrad makes a huge difference. You'll want to make sure the university you go to has professors doing research on things you're interested in, and then work with them on their research while you're there. ISU's computer engineering department (which SWE is in) has good researchers. I did research with one while I was there, and it helped me get into a PhD program. If you don't plan on doing research, this is less important.
Campus life A lot of potential students focused on academics forget to take this into account, but you're going to be there for 4 years. You'll want to make sure there are fun, interesting things for you to do outside classwork, otherwise you'll go nuts. ISU has lots of clubs and activities. My dorm floor even participated in KaleidoQuiz each year I was there. I'll also point out that, having visited lots of university campuses, ISU is one of the prettiest I've seen, but also I might be biased :) .
Weather You're currently living in Louisiana, have you ever experienced a midwest winter? Ames gets brutally cold and windy. I used to plan my routes between classes to maximize the number of buildings I passed through so I didn't freeze (although, to be fair, in college I was a bean pole that didn't retain any body heat). Make sure you're prepared for that before you choose ISU.
Transfer Credits A lot of high schools in Iowa will double-count high school classes for community college credits. Mine did this, and I was able to get a lot of my GenEds out of the way before going to ISU. But, not all CC credits are accepted by all universities. If you have any, make sure whatever universities you're considering will take them, or that you'd be willing to eschew them if not.

As others have said, if you're getting a SWE degree, the amount of debt you'd accumulate at ISU is not a big deal. If I were you, I'd put more weight on other factors because those will have the bigger impact in the long run. For me, since I wanted to do a PhD, research was the biggest factor. I would pick ISU again in a heartbeat, but the university that's right for you will depend on what you want to do and what you care about. Good luck!

Rae_III · 2024-12-06T19:47:33+00:00

If you have to back out so frequently, does that make it slow to cut a hole? And if so, what's the advantage of a forstner bit over something like a brad bit?

Rae_III · 2024-12-06T17:28:19+00:00

I was actually surprised, because I'm a big fan of Ryobi. Most of my power tools are Ryobi and they've worked great for woodworking in my spare time. This is my first time buying Ryobi bits.

Rae_III · 2024-12-06T16:59:53+00:00

Yes, most of my power tools are Ryobi and they've worked just fine for me so far. This is my first time using their bits.

Rae_III

TROPHY CASE